


Face To Face with Insanity

by TeiEsu



Series: Batman: Arkham Trilogy [1]
Category: Batman: Arkham (Video Games)
Genre: Arkham Asylum, Arkham Trilogy, Batman - Freeform, Bruce Wayne - Freeform, Cops are underappreciated, F/M, Insanity, Locked in an Asylum, Multi, Past always haunts, Protective Family, Romance, The Bat's fault, Whose Pride is Worse?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 44,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22607290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeiEsu/pseuds/TeiEsu
Summary: Following in her father's footsteps, Taylor Carmichael became a detective of the GCPD, and one of the few that found the Caped Crusader to be more of a nuisance and not a hero of the city.Wanting to spend her days off watching horror films and in sweatpants, her and her twin's birthday this year gets turned upside down when her brother gets locked inside Arkham Asylum the night Joker decides he wants to rear his head. With her only family left locked inside with a bunch of insane criminals, she decides to dive inside and save him, despite Batman and Gordon both telling her otherwise. With as stubborn as she is, she gives Batman a choice, either deal with her tagging along or she would go off by herself.The Bat of Gotham had agreed to work with the GCPD before, but this partnership was going to end up being more insane than the inmates inside.
Relationships: Batman/Original Female Characters, Bruce Wayne/Original Female Characters, Joker/Harleen Quinzel/Original Female Character(s), Poison Ivy/Original Male Characters
Series: Batman: Arkham Trilogy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626709
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	1. Bruce Wayne

“You owe me, James.”

“Yes, I know Taylor. I greatly appreciate it. After what happened with Barbara, I just feel too guilty in asking her to come to these things anymore.”

“You need to stop feeling guilty. Barbara would be hurt to hear you say that.”

“I know. That’s what I have you for, though. You wouldn’t tell her even if your life depended on it.”

There was a pause.

“You’re lucky I like you as a boss.” Another pause. “Tell me what we’re doing here again. This guy who’s throwing this shindig; Brune?”

The man laughed at his companion. “Bruce, Taylor. Bruce Wayne. How can you not know about him? What do you do all day?”

“I eat, sleep, and watch horror movies.” Came the answer in a flat voice. 

“Well, don’t you work?”

“Where do you think I sleep?”

Jim Gordon gave a small laugh as he parked the car. Hurrying over to the passenger side, he held his hand out to help the woman out of his car. There was valet, of course, but he didn’t like the thought of anyone driving his car but himself. 

Taylor Carmicheal was in her thirties with long locks of golden brown hair and a set of gray eyes. Normally dressed in her black and white detective uniform, Gordon was willing to admit that he was very pleased with what she had decided to wear to the party tonight.

It was an emerald green one strap flowing gown by Jovani. She wore a golden choker with an emerald jewel with a matching bracelet on her bare arm, earrings, and a ring on her right hand. Her hair was smoothed back on the left side before curling around to hang over her right shoulder.

“I do have to say that I am very impressed, Taylor.” Gordon told her as they got onto the elevator of the Wayne Enterprises. 

“With the dress?” the woman asked with a grin. “I don’t normally wear things like this. Ever. You should feel special.”

“You should.” He smiled. “And I do.”

She gave him a look before looking at the floor number. 22 out of 156. “How many damn floors does this jerk own?”

Gordon gave her a look. “I expect that you’re going to be polite when we reach the floor, aren’t you?”

Taylor gave him a grin. “Of course! You can trust me, boss.”

Gordon smiled as the elevator finally came to a stop. “He has industries like this all over the world.” Her mouth fell open and snapped shut quickly as the doors opened.

The party was huge. On the large floor there was an orchestra towards the back as men and women packed the area either dancing or talking. Food was spread out on large tables near the balcony and drinks were being served left and right. 

A large frown came across Taylor’s face. “I am not dancing with you, James.”

Gordon gave her a smile. “It’s all right. I don’t like dancing too much.”

“That’s a relief,” Taylor grabbed Gordon’s arm again and pulled him towards the drinks. “Now, let’s get drunk!”

Gordon laughed at his detective. Unlike the others that they worked with in the GCPD, Taylor was always able to turn anything into a joke, clearing the air of tension or anything negative. She was smart, too, moving up ranks faster than others, and held the record of being someone that many criminals of Gotham hated, next to Batman, of course. 

Oswald Cobblepot could attest to that. 

The night actually went on good. Gordon ran into some of his friends and Taylor had ventured outside onto the balcony about two hours after arriving for a breath of fresh air. This was normally not what she did for entertainment or her nights out. It was normally just her and her brother for dinner at McDonalds or something like that. She didn’t really…have friends to go out with. She never needed them. Not until…

“What are you doing out here by yourself?”

Taylor turned to see a handsome man standing behind her. He looked about her age, if not a bit older, with short, smoothed back black hair and blue eyes. He was in a black suit and a small smile on his face. Clearly a man of class. She felt...fake here, at this party and this man joining her was not helping the subject. 

Taylor turned back to the city beneath them. “I’m just…I needed some air,” She told him. “It’s a bit too crowded in there for my taste.”

The man smiled and nodded as he leaned against the railing beside her. “I agree. Sometimes fresh air is what everyone needs. It clears your mind; lets you think.” 

“Exactly,” She nodded, pleased that he understood. “And if I have to listen to another woman bragging about the new jewels their sugar daddy bought them then champagne will ruin a few dresses.”

The man’s laughter was deep, his voice pleasing to her ears. At least someone here had a sense of humor. She was always a Wallflower at parties so this was a nice change of pace. 

“I suppose it’s a good thing you were able to escape then. I’ve seen some women go crazy over shoes, I don’t want to know what happens when it comes to their dresses.” 

“It’ll be like Hell opened up.”

He laughed at her again before glancing back inside the doors behind them, searching. “May I ask who it is you came with?”

She was silent for a moment, deciding whether or not to tell the truth. The last time she did so, she lost count of how many hands she had to shake; and how much hand sanitizer she had to go through. 

“I had the honor of coming with Commissioner Gordon. Couldn’t let my Boss come to such a rich party on his own, you know? He’d get lost.”

The man looked surprised, his blue eyes glancing her up and down. “You’re a cop?”

“Detective,” She corrected him. “Taylor Carmichael.”

A grin spread across his face. He definitely recognized her name. “So you’re Dylan’s little sister.”

Or her brother’s name, at least. “How do you know my brother?”

“From Arkham Asylum.”

She tilted her head, growing a tad more interested now. “What are you, a doctor there?”

The man looked at her in surprise for a moment before he gave a small laugh. “Forgive me. It’s not very often that I have to introduce myself.” He held his hand out to her. “Bruce Wayne.”

Taylor struggled to keep her face from reacting. This was always her luck. The man of the party just HAD to come out on the balcony to talk to her. Sometimes she swore that god hated her.

She didn’t even seem to notice his hand as her mouth began to move. “You. You’re Brune Wayne.”

She internally cursed herself. She hadn’t meant to call him that to his face. It was just a joke between her and her brother

His hand fell back to his side as he stared at her in a small shock himself. “Bruce, and yes I am.” He told her, still a bit surprised. It wasn’t often that he came across someone who couldn’t recognize him off of the news or something like that; especially a woman. 

Taylor waited for him to say something else before giving a cough. “So…what’s up?”

The man stared at her as if he had never seen someone quite like her before, and then gave another of his laughs. “You are the strangest woman I’ve ever met.”

“If you’ve come to that conclusion only after barely five minutes then I feel sorry for you. So many stiffs walking through your doors must be beyond tiring.”

“So many people in general and it can be tiring,” the Millionaire replied. “But every now and then I’ll find a gem hidden in there somewhere.”

Unable to look at that grin on his face anymore, Taylor turned back to the city, hoping that he would walk away and go back to his guests. That was not the case. 

She found herself praying that reporters weren’t snapping pictures to post in the papers the next morning. She’d never hear the end of it at work. 

From here she could see the police station and on top of that was the Batlight. She gave another frown, cursing on how many times Gordon and sent her up there to light the Signal for their ‘savior’. She’d never met the Caped Crusader personally, having refused to, but she had seen him close enough due to events around the city.

“Are you all right?” Bruce asked her, leaning on the railing again.

She decided to move the conversation away from her. 

“What do you think of Batman?”

He raised a brow. “What do you mean?”

“What do you think of him? What’s your opinion of the Caped Crusader?” She asked him.

He thought for a moment. “Well, what do you think of him?”

Taylor was silent for a moment, just staring at the signal. “I hate him.” Bruce looked surprised again. “No, I take that back. I don’t hate him. I just…I became a cop so that _I_ could be one of the ones that protected the city, not rely on some man in tights to do it for me. If I ever find out who he is, I’m gonna beat the hell out of him,” She grinned. “I’m sure that it’s one of the men at the station, though. And Robin is his son or something.”

“The station?” Bruce asked her. “The Police station?”

“Yep. Who else would go around and have the strength to fight thugs like Bane and Killer Croc? And to take on the Joker as many times as he has he must be close to going crazy by now, don’t you think?”

Bruce gave a laugh at what seemed to be an inside joke. “Yeah, I agree with that.”

Taylor pushed herself straight again and scratched the side of her head. “Eh, I just needed to complain about the big bad bat, I guess.” She gave him a smile. “Just ignore all of that.”

“You know, you’re the first person I have met that has had a bad comment about Batman.” Bruce told her. “Outside of tabloids and the like.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. He’s all that’s talked about in Gotham City. Either him or the creepy bad guys he fights.” She gave another smile. “But I suppose without him we might be in trouble. Bane could snap a man like a twig. I do not look forward to having to face that bastard personally, and I pray it never happens." She glanced at the sky for a moment. "I suppose that makes me a coward though, doesn't it?"

Bruce was quiet for a moment, studying her. She was about to tell him to knock it off when his voice sounded again. 

“Would you like to dance?”

That had _not_ been the question she was expecting. 

“Please don’t be offended when I say no.”

“Can I ask why?”

“Honestly? I don’t know how to dance.” She glanced away, scratching the side of her nose. “This is my first time at a party like this and I never even went to dances while in school so I never learned. Never needed to.”

The man’s smile could have blinded her. “Let’s fix that then, shall we?”

Taylor found herself voiceless as Bruce grabbed her hand and led her through the crowd and towards the dancers. How do you say no to a dance with Brune-er, Bruce, Wayne?

“No, really,” She pulled her hand back. “I must insist. At least…not in front of a bunch of people I can embarrass myself in front of.”

He just continued to smile at her, as if understanding. “Then I must insist on you joining me for dinner one night to where I can teach you.”

Taylor gave him a look. “Really? Is this how you normally pick your lady friends up, playboy? You got it all wrong if you think you can-”

“Taylor! There you are! I was wondering where you go off to,” Gordon’s arrival saved her from embarrassing herself for shouting at Bruce Wayne at his own party. “Ah, I see you met Mr. Wayne.”

“Yep,” Taylor crossed her arms, moving away from the other man and standing beside Gordon. “Real charmer, Gordon.”

Gordon gave a worried laugh, scratching the back of his head as Wayne shook his other hand. “How are you tonight, Bruce?”

“Wonderfully entertained,” The Millionaire smiled. “And I have your companion to thank for that. She’s like a breath of fresh air that I didn’t know I needed.”

Gordon laughed as Taylor felt her cheeks heat up. “One of Gotham’s finest.”

She rolled her eyes. “You say that about all of us.”

“I like spreading the truth; we need more of it in this city.”

Taylor snorted as her phone went off. Leaving the two men to talk on their own, she moved back out to the balcony, the song playing until she answered it. 

_I’ve been fading away_   
_I’ve been waiting on the call to reach my veins_   
_Ready or not_   
_No attention to waste_   
_Every sorrow of the soul will read my name_   
_When I cease to exist_

“Off work all ready?”

 _“Yep. Cash came in early and gave me the rest of the night off since I gotta get right back up and come back in at nine tomorrow morning.”_ Her brother’s voice reached her. _“Look, I’m not going to sit down here in the car, waiting all night for you.”_

She gave a snort. Her brother was to pick her up from the party when his shift ended at midnight, but it seemed he was a tad bit early. Thank God. She wanted out of this place fast now that she had embarrassed herself in front of the Host. 

“Hush Dylan. And it’s not your car, it’s mine so you will wait until I get down there.” She told him. She always had to be the adult between the two of them. “Give me a few moments to tell Gordon I’ll see him at work Wednesday.”

_“Hurry it up, will ya?”_

Taylor gave a sigh and gripped the phone in her hand as she made her way back to her Boss. “That was Dylan. He got off early since he goes in tomorrow morning and he’s waiting for me downstairs.”

Gordon gave her a smile. “Thanks again for coming with me, Taylor. I appreciate it.”

“It really wasn’t a big deal. It was…entertaining.” She grinned back before turning to Bruce. “It was nice to meet you Mr. Brune.” Taylor held her hand out this time, ignoring as Gordon coughed ‘Bruce’. “My apologies on having to leave before it was over.”

“It’s not a problem,” Bruce assured her, taking her hand. It was warm and firm; pleasing. “And it was my pleasure. I look forward to talking with you again in the future.”

“You just might, if you keep sending Gordon invitations.” She gave a bow of her head. “See you on Wednesday, boss.” Taylor smiled at Gordon again.

“Same to you; and happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

It took all her restraint not to run for the elevators. Thanking the heavens that she was the only one riding it down, she gripped her hair and cursed herself out the entire way down. She’d never be able to show her face in front of Wayne again without feeling embarrassed

She was glad to see the blue and white mustang in front of the building, almost out of place among the sleek black cars in the lot, with a young man jamming to a CD in the driver's seat. 

Dylan Carmicheal was the taller, yet younger, of the twins with short golden brown hair and gray eyes. He was dressed in the black uniform of the Arkham Asylum guards as a silver Knight Chess piece hung from his left ear. 

As his sister slipped into the car he turned the music down. He took a glance at the dress before giving a soft smile.

“You should wear more of mom’s stuff. Better than what you normally wear.”

Taylor rolled her eyes as he pulled away from the building. “Hello to you too. My day at work was fine. How about yours?” 

“What do you expect when you work hoarding the Arkham Asylum? The freaks in there annoy the hell out of me.” Dylan told her, tapping on the wheel.

Taylor giggled. “Well, you wanted a high paying job. You can’t get no higher than that in Gotham City.”

“Yeah, don’t remind me.” He scoffed. He was normally like this when he was tired. “You still picking me up at work tomorrow?” Dylan asked her as he took off towards their apartment.

“9, right?”

“We still going out?”

“It’s our birthday, isn’t it? I’m not going out for dinner on my own for our birthday, got it?”

Dylan laughed at his sister. “Of course not. Why would I think that you would do that?”

Tomorrow was going to be a great day.


	2. Lockdown

At least she thought that it was going to be a great day. The rain ruined that, as did the attack on the city from the Joker again. Taylor had been hoping for a calm day of Gotham for her and Dylan’s birthday but apparently she wasn’t going to get it as she hurried up the steps of the Arkham Asylum. She was only allowed on these grounds because she was a detective and because her brother worked there. She was here to pick him up. Normally she would have just waited in the car but when she saw Gordon’s car sitting there her curiosity got the better of her. She had also noticed another car. A special car.

The Batmobile

Part of her was annoyed at the sight of it, and also intrigued. Him being here meant that he had caught the Joker already and had brought the Clown Prince of Crime back home, but it also meant that, by going inside, she would have to meet the Caped Crusader. She avoided him as much as she could, never having shared a word with the man in tights before. She didn’t look forward to it, knowing that her mouth was going to get her in trouble with her boss. 

She made a note to apologize to him at a later date when it did.

Making sure that she had her gun, like she always did in this city, Taylor hurried through the halls, sending greetings to the men there. They all knew what she was doing here and greeted her happily and cracked some jokes about her and her brother, giving birthday wishes. It claimed her down, making her forget for a moment who it was that was waiting for her at the end of that hall. 

She soon found herself at the office. A group of guards were leading the purple suited, white-faced clown through the doorway, heading further into the Asylum. Turning to the office to wait for her brother to come out after the Joker was clear of him, she saw Gordon and the man of the hour, the man in tights, standing there and watching.

“You see what happens on the days that I don’t work?” Taylor announced herself to the ones in the room. “People go crazy and try to blue things up.”

“Taylor,” Gordon looked surprised as they both turned to her. “What are you doing here?”

“I came here to pick up the baby brother for our birthday tonight but it looks like I’m going to have to wait for a bit longer for him to be ready to leave.” 

She gave the Joker a look from the glass. He noticed her and gave a wink before being followed by a kooky laugh of his. At that, Taylor found herself wondering just what Joker looked like behind all that paint. Was he cute or was there just something wrong with him that had him want to cover it all up? And at the thought of who was behind the mask, it made the woman wonder what the other masked man was hiding…

“So, Gordon,” Taylor rubbed her chin as she looked at the broad man across the small room. “Who is it in the costume this time?”

“What do you mean?” Batman asked as Gordon shook his head with an ‘Oh Lord’. 

“Is it Daniels or Burns this time posing at the ‘infamous Batman’? I’d think it was Cash but,” She looked at her left hand before dropping it. “Yeah, enough said on that.”

The man known as Batman was wearing the tight, grayish black leather that Taylor couldn’t keep from letting her mouth water at the muscular abs, pecks, and legs on the man before her. If his arms weren’t under his black cape she was sure they were toned as well. Her eyes fell on his utility belt before dropping just a bit lower before ripping them away quickly and back up to his face as she wondered what the back half of this man looked like. The pointed helmet covered everything on his face but the blue eyes and the firm chin and lips that tilted into a frown. Now that she had a good, close up look at Batman she knew for sure that he was not anyone she worked with. None of them had a body this good.

“So, you going to give up the act and just tell me who you are?” She asked him, locking eyes with him for a moment.

Batman looked at Gordon. “Should I be worried?”

“Worried?” Gordon rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “Not unless she convinces her brother to join in.”

“Who’s her brother?” The Caped Crusader asked.

“You’ve met him. He works here. This is the older twin to Dylan Carmicheal.”

Batman glanced back at her, a small look of surprise. “Now that I think about it, they do look a lot alike.” The masked man halted at the cry and the three of them all turned around to see that the Joker had begun to attack the guards. “Joker’s loose!” Batman cried and then turned to Gordon. “Alert the Warden!”

“Hurry! We’re losing him, Doc!” The Joker laughed as he choked one of the guards with his cuffs before kicking the doctor aside. “The chokes on you,” Taylor heard him laugh before he began to dance and say Honey, I’m home.”

“Really, that’s what you say?” She shook her head, watching as Batman broke through the glass.

Somehow the gates unlocked and Joker went rushing through into the Asylum before turning back to the Dark Knight. “Welcome to the madhouse, Batman! I set a trap, and you sprang it gloriously! Now let’s get this party started!”

Taylor narrowed her eyes, watching as a bunch of men ran at the man in tights and placed a foot on the broken window. Gordon grabbed her shoulder. “What are you doing?”

“I gotta go help bat-brain.” She replied. “He can’t take on all those guys by himself.”

“I assure you that he can! Don’t get involved with this, Taylor. Batman can handle himself.”

“Yeah yeah, I know. _'Batman this, Batman that, Batman’s the superman of Gotham City.’_ Well, I’m tired of hearing it, all right? A man can only do so much on his own! And whether or not he likes it, I’m gonna go each him that he’s not the best fighter around!”

Gordon sighed, watching his detective as she jumped down into the fight. He shook his head. _~Sometimes…I just wonder about her~_

The convicts hadn’t been expecting for some else, let alone a woman, to jump into the middle of it and whip out some karate moves on them to help Batman.

“What are you doing?” He demanded, landing a harsh punch that made one of the convicts fly into the wall and whack his head against it. 

“What does it look like?” She grunted as she chopped one of the men in the neck.

“I don’t need your help! Get out of here before you get hurt!”

“Just shut up and take what you’re offered, batboy!” Taylor growled at him. 

The man didn’t say anything after that. Both of them ignored Joker’s voice on the screen that appeared after a few more men decided to pop up to try and take them down but in the end they all fell in the end.

“Almost 20 years of Shotokan,” Taylor grinned, feeling very proud of herself as the man in tights looked at her in silence. “These idiots don’t have nothing on me! They should start calling me the female Chuck Norris!”

 _“The system’s jammed!”_ Gordon appeared on the screen from the room behind them. _“We’re stuck in here. Joker’s in full control of the security gates.”_

“I’ll find a way out!” Batman told him. “Gordon, try and contact the Warden. Let him know what’s happened. I’ll be back.”

Joker took over the screen again, pointing at the camera. _“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Bats. I’m in control of the Asylum. You’re not going anywhere I don’t want you to. Understand?”_

“If you think I’ll let you run,” Batman growled.

 _“Blah, blah, blah,”_ Joker rolled his eyes. _“Always with the hero speak. I’m getting bored watching you. Why don’t you just come find me?”_ The doorway into the Asylum opened.

 _“You know it’s a trap.”_ Gordon appeared on screen again.

“Of course it is,” Taylor frowned as she took a few steps closer to give a good look. “But we’re not going to be able to find out what Joker’s planning without going in there. Besides, we gotta go capture him again.”

“We?” Batman and Gordon both looked at the woman like she was crazy.

“Yes, we.” She placed her hands on her hips.

 _“Taylor, you’re not going in there!”_ Gordon told his detective. _“Do you know how many maniacs are in there and how many Joker’s going to release?”_

“No, but I’m pretty sure that I got a good idea on that, which is why someone should go with him,” She thumbed at Batman. “He can’t take them all on his own at the same time. It’s impossible.”

“You are not going in the Asylum,” Batman told her. “You’re staying here with Gordon.”

“The hell I am,” She turned to the man beside her, glaring. “You might be the _‘Big Gotham Superhero’_ , but you can’t tell me what to do and don’t think that you can make me stay here, either. There are guards in there that are about to be in some serious trouble and my brother’s included in that. I’m not going to just wait around here, waiting to find out if he’s still safe! I’m going in there, whether both of you like it or not!”

Batman stared at her for a moment before turning to head towards the entrance. “Just don’t fall behind.”

Taylor looked surprised. She had been expecting it to be a bit harder than that to get Batman to agree to let her come along but she wasn’t about to complain about it.

_“Taylor, just be careful. I don’t want to have to lose one of my best detectives.”_

She gave the man a smile and a wave before turning after the man in tights. “You don’t have to worry, Captain. I’ll be fine!” 

There was just going to be one problem with sticking to Batman while they were running through the Asylum. 

Trying to restrain herself from staring at that body.   
_(Insert wink)_

Batman decided not to talk as they moved through the halls and Taylor wasn’t going to try and start something if this batboy didn’t want to talk to her. What was there to say, anyway? She would just start trying to guess who he was or be a complete ass and make fun of his suit or something, so she felt it best to retrain from doing so. 

The facility alarm went off as a feminine computer voice went on about Security breaches on different levels as more convicts popped up to attack them.

“What is he doing? Just letting everyone out?” Taylor finally asked.

“It looks like it,” Batman nodded and then pressed a button…somewhere on that suit of his. “Oracle, can you hear me?”

The voice was low but Taylor could hear it just a bit. _“Loud and clear. What’s up?”_

“Joker’s escaped custody. He’s running free in Arkham.” He answered.

_“Do you need anything? Is my dad still there?”_

_~Dad?~_ Taylor thought for a moment. Now that she thought about it, that voice did sound familiar.

Batman gave her a look. “Commissioner Gordon is safe.” The woman’s mouth fell open. “Joker’s not far ahead. I’ll stay in contact.” He dropped his hand as they walked through another passage.

Taylor scurried after him, questions aplenty now. “That was Gordon’s daughter? What are you in contact with her for? You do understand that she’s paralyzed, right? You’re getting her involved with dangerous stuff here.” 

Then again, with Gordon being the woman’s father, she was already involved.

“That does not concern you,” Batman told her. “That doesn’t concern anyone but me and her.”

“Ahh, so Daddy doesn’t know, huh?” She gave a sly grin. Batman stayed silent, making her grin wider. “You don’t talk very much, do you?” 

Her answer was obvious.

They soon reached the Patient Pacification Chamber and found a set of guards.

“Taylor!” The bald man, Zack Franklin, recognized the woman instantly and then took notice of the Caped Crusader beside her. “Thank God! It’s Zsasz! He’s got Mike. He’s strapped in the chair. Zsasz has totally lost it! He’ll kill Mike if he sees anyone trying to get close.”

“He won’t see me.” Batman told him. He looked at the woman. “Do you think that you’ll be able to distract him for a little bit?”

“Of course,” She nodded, glad that he was using her as at least some kind of help. “You’d just better be able to swoop down and hit him hard enough.” She watched as he left the room and headed up the stairs to the right before turning to the two men in the room before her. Mike was chained to the chair with the other man behind him with a controller, just waiting.

“I see anything that looks even a little bit like a bat and this guard dies. Do you hear me?” The crazy man chuckled.

“Damn, what is wrong with you guys?” Taylor’s voice caught the lunatic’s attention as Batman snuck up to the floor above him. “Can’t you guys be obsessed with something other than bats? What about dogs or birds or, hell, fluffy kittens?” She continued to run her mouth at him, seeming as how Zsasz’s attention was now fully on her. She restrained herself from glancing up for a few moments to give off Batman’s position until he jumped from the gargoyle above. “Score!” Taylor grinned as Batman’s foot collided with Zsasz’s head. She hurried forward and unhooked Mike. “Are you all right?”

“Y-yeah.” He quickly jumped away from the chair, gasping hard. “Thanks, Taylor. Dylan always said that you’d be a helping hand here one day.” 

Taylor laughed as Mike sat on the floor, letting the nurse check him out. She then turned to the bald man again. “Zack, where’s Dylan?”

“He…he was making his final rounds when everything went haywire. He was…he was close to Pamela Iseley when I last talked to him. His radio shut down after that.”

Taylor’s face went white. Pamela Iseley, AKA Poison Ivy. “Fuck.” She cursed.

“You shouldn’t worry though,” Zack told her hurriedly. “As long as he doesn’t try to destroy any plants in front of her he’ll be fine.”

That didn’t make her feel any better.

 _“Can ya hear me?”_

Taylor turned to the screens to see a woman dressed as a nurse standing there. She raised her brows at what she was wearing but stayed silent as she knew who it was. 

_“Is this thing on?”_ Harley Quinn asked, setting the camera up. She then backed up. _“Oh, Hiya, B-man! Harley Quinn here. How do you like my new uniform? Pretty hot, huh? Oh, I got something to show you.”_ She ran towards the end of the screen but turned back. _“One second, B-man.”_

“You attract the weirdest people,” Taylor whispered the man beside her as the Warden, tied to a chair, was rolled onto the screen.

 _“I’m now subbing for the old man!”_ Harley grinned. _“Old Sharpie’s never been happier!”_ Harley said seductively. Taylor gave a cough, trying to cover ‘Psycho’ behind it. _“In case ya ain’t figured it out, today’s the Joker’s big homecoming, and you’re the guest of honor. We didn’t know that you were bringing a date, but we can make do with that.”_

Taylor frowned, knowing that it was herself the blonde woman was talking about. “How the hell am I your date?

“You have one chance to surrender, Quinn.” Batman told the blonde, ignoring the detective beside him.

 _“Tempting, Bats, but no dice. Now the inmates are running the asylum. Well, technically they’re Joker’s goons shipped in from Blackgate, but you get the idea. Bye bye for now!”_ She smashed the camera, cutting it off.

“What next?” Taylor asked him.

“We continue on.” Was her answer.

_“Batman, you picking this up?”_

“Oracle,” Batman replied as Taylor leaned in closer to hear. “I’m here.”

_“Arkham Asylum just vanished off the network!”_

“He’s got his hands on the security system,” Taylor replied. “Isolating it from the grid actually isn’t too bad of an idea.” Batman gave her a look. “What?”

 _“That’s not all he’s done,”_ The other woman continued. _“All police feeds are reporting he’s placed bombs all over Gotham. Says he’ll detonate them if anyone sets foot on Arkham Island. It’s being suppressed at the moment but the story will break any time now.”_

“He’s lying,” Batman replied. “It’s just a diversion to keep people away.”

“How do you know?” Both women asked him.

Batman gave Taylor a look as he answered them plainly. “I know him.”

The detective pursed her lips. “Touche’.”

It was then that Zack went off about being locked in the room. Taylor looked at Batman. “So, how do we continue on?”

“This is your last chance to turn back and let me handle this on my own.” He replied.

She was silent for a moment, studying him. He was still against her coming along, but at the same time it felt like he wasn’t really fighting her on it. It felt...off. She wanted to ask him straight up about it but why ruin her chance of finding her brother?

“Look, I don’t care that you go around in tights fighting bad guys. I don’t care who you are, and I don’t care what Joker has planned. All I care about is finding my brother and so I’m going to follow you no matter what until I find him, understand?”

Batman stared at her for a moment before a large smile spread across his face. “Fine. I hope you like to crawl.”


	3. Joker's Taunt

Batman had been serious when he told her that they were going to be crawling. 

She looked at him like he had been crazy when he told her to crawl through the air duct but she did what he said; after all, he was letting her come without a fight.

Oracle had patched them through into the guard’s radio feed and they got wind of some more Blackgate prisoners by the Boiler and that the guards had spotted Joker behind them before the feed went down. The Computers were apparently up and down like crazy and Gordon’s daughter told them that she would keep trying.

“Watch out.” 

Taylor squeezed into the small corner to let Batman slip past her and kick the vent off of the end of the passage. 

She gave a whistle at how far it flew. “20 bucks says that you would play a mean ball of soccer, Bats.”

He turned and looked at her. “Bats?” Only the Joker called him that.

“Yep. I ain’t gonna say ‘Batman’ every time I talk, you know.” She told him. “This would all be solved if you told me your real name, you know.” 

She could have sworn the man had rolled his eyes before dropping out of the duct into the Processing Corridor just in time to see the doors ahead of them closing behind a guard. Taylor crawled forward and followed after him, hanging onto the edge so her drop wouldn’t be as hard as his. She took notice of the wind-up teeth chattering around on the floor. 

“Okay, if you didn’t get this from before, I believe that the Joker is playing with you.”

Batman nodded before stomping on the teeth. “That’s all Joker does, but there’s something about this one. How had he gotten control of the inside?”

“A traitor, perhaps?” Taylor offered. Batman looked at her. “Believe me, that’s gotta be the only way.”

They moved through the doors themselves to find the guard in front of a window, watching in horror as two on the other side of the glass were banging on it as a green smoke filled it up.

_“Warning. Decontamination Room. Toxins detected. Warning. Decontamination Room. Area Sealed.”_

“A warning earlier would have been helpful!” Taylor growled, looking at the control pad next to the door. “Damn,” She cursed. “You need a code to override and open the doors.”

“Can you do it?” The guard beside them asked.

“Not fast enough.” Taylor shook her head. “I’m good with computers but I doubt that those guys in there can last too much longer.”

The Guard turned to Batman. “What is that stuff?”

“Joker Toxin,” Batman answered. “Listen! The room is full of poison gas. Anyone caught in there is dead!”

“Are you going to get in there and help them, Batman?” He asked.

“How can he do that? If he’s caught in there he’ll die too. Then what’ll happen? He’s who Joker and the others want, right?” Taylor asked. She looked at the man in tights with a raised brow as he held out a hand to her. “What?”

“Are you coming or not?” Batman asked her. She then took notice of the small gun in his other hand and put two and two together with the vent above them. She, ignoring the blush on her cheeks, wrapped her arms around his waist as his arm wrapped around her. This guy…was very warm and very, very muscular.

There was another vent duct that they had to crawl through and they heard the guard’s cries below them still. Batman seemed pissed as he tossed the metal vent against the wall before hurriedly charging through on his hands and knees. Taylor was half pleased and half disappointed, as she followed behind him, that Batman was wearing a cape. It covered everything from behind.

“This isn’t a simple escape attempt,” Batman told himself as he kicked the other vent off. “Joker’s been planning this.”

“Over here. Please!” Taylor dropped down and followed Batman to the edge of the floor to see one of the guards hanging on for dear life. 

Batman reached down and pulled him up with one hand. “You’re going to be fine. Stay here.” Taylor could see a few others on the vents and catwalks above the green gas, all looking worried about the ones still below. Batman hurried on and nearly gave Taylor a heart attack when she had to jump across the large gap to follow him.

“Batman’s here! Just hold on a little longer, Steve.”

“You, stay here.” Batman told Taylor.

“What?” She asked.

“Let me go down there and take care of the Joker Toxin before you follow. You’ve never dealt with it before so it’s safer this way.”

Taylor thought for a moment. “It does make sense. All right, but if you try to ditch me,” She gave a smirk as the man in tights grappled up higher above them. She then turned to the guard beside her. “Hey, have you heard from Carmicheal since any of this happened?”

“Carmicheal?” The man looked at her for a moment. “You must be…no, I haven’t. Dylan’s radio was cut off. I know that Cash had been trying to get through to him but I lost contact with him as well. His radio was either dropped or smashed, but don’t worry. Your brother’s smart. He was a Marine so he knows how to stay alive in situations like this. When everything is back to normal you’ll see; he’ll be just fine.”

Taylor smiled at the man. He was right. Dylan was a Marine. She shouldn’t worry too much. “Thanks.”

Batman had done something to turn the fans back on, sucking all the green gas back out and the computer voice went off about the air being pure again before Joker’s creepy laugh went off. Hearing a whistle from below, Taylor tilted her head down to see Batman on the main floor, looking like he was waiting for her to jump down to him. She frowned for a moment before doing just that. She had always wanted to jump off her balcony and into the arms of the man waiting below that would take her away to something…whatever it would be, but the Dark Knight hadn’t been the one she had seen doing just that. And this wasn’t a little fairy tale that she wanted. This was something else.

Glancing at the bodies on the ground she continued to frown; they were guards and convicts both. “It seems that Joker doesn’t care who he kills.”

“No, he doesn’t,” Batman told her. “It’s all just a game to him; a game that I intend to break.”

In the Transfer Loop, Taylor gladly took her turn in smashing the Chattering teeth before a few more convicts decided to get the jump on Batman. There was green paint on the floor in the shapes of arrows and smiley faces, leading them down one of the corridors and at the end of the hall was another face, waiting on them. As they drew closer the door opened, giving them a view of Joker waiting on them on top of some kind of hanging…block.

“What took you so long?” The man in the purple suit grinned. Batman whipped out one of his Batarangs and tossed it; the Joker ducked down and gave a laugh.

“There’s no escape, Joker. I will find you.” Batman growled.

“I’m counting on it. Just not yet!” The Joker replied before he stomped on the metal object he was standing on and it began to be pulled back. The door dropped open and Taylor let her mouth drop as well at the sight of the creature stepping out of it. “Oooh. He’s a big one.”

“What the fuck is that!” She cried. The ground trembled as the thing jumped down towards her and Batman.

“Get back!” Batman growled as the creature picked up a dead guard and threw it at them.

“With pleasure. This one’s all yours, Batman!” She told him, dodging out of the way. This guy...he was the size of Bane! Of course she would run into something like this! 

She would have gladly gone into one of the offices but they were blocked with those blue lights again; she was sure she would be shocked or something like that if she even tried. With nothing else to do but dodge when the creature got too close, Taylor turned. Joker was still just standing on the metal box, laughing and watching. 

“Oi!” she called out. “You mind telling me what you plan on doing?”

She doubted that she would get the answers that she wanted but it was better than doing nothing, she felt.

The crazy man turned to look at her with that grin of his. “Now why would I tell you that? It would ruin all the fun!” He then gave her a question himself. “Who are you? Is this Bats’ new partner?”

Taylor snorted. “Please, you wouldn’t get me running around in tights if the world was on fire.”

“Oh? Then one of his…fangirls?”

Taylor made a buzzer sound. “Not even close. One more try, Clown-boy.” 

Joker threw his head back with a loud laugh. “Oh, I like this one, Bats! You should keep her! Or just give her to me, whichever one you prefer!”

Batman gave the creature a kick to the face before glaring at the man behind it. The creature went to run forward but then grabbed its head, stumbling as it cried in pain. It then just fell over. Taylor moved forward and kicked its leg; it didn’t move.

“Well,” Joker sighed. “That was unexpected, wasn’t it? Oh well, note to self, need stronger test subjects.” He glanced back up at Batman. “Seeing as how I’m feeling generous, I’ll give you this one for free, but only because you brought a little friend this time. Knock me off,” Joker snarled. “I dare you! End this, pull the plug, stop me once and for all!”

Batman pulled out a Batarang but stopped himself. Taylor looked at him like he was crazy before she pulled out her gun. “All right,” She pulled the trigger but Batman had knocked her hand aside. The bullet whizzed right past the Joker’s leg. “What the hell!?” She growled as the man took her gun away.

Joker gave off a wicked laugh as the crate was pulled back into the wall. “You’re getting too predictable, Bats! You should have let her shoot me! Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I have a party to organize. I’ve got guests flying in from all over Arkham. You’ll see.” He waved as the doors shut with another of his laughs. 

Taylor watched as the door shut before turning back to the man beside her. “Here’s a question, Bats. Do you want Joker to get away and kill more people?”

“No.” The man answered her with a harsh look.

“Then why did you just let him get away?” She stomped her foot. “He’s just going to kill more and more people now!”

“I don’t kill people.” Batman told her.

“Maybe you should,” Taylor growled. He looked at her. “Every time these guys break out they just kill more and more people, they’re not ever gonna change, so why bother?”

The man in tights glared at her and opened his mouth to reply but he was beaten to it. “Batman. Over here!” A voice called. They both turned from their argument to see a guard in one of the small offices. Batman led the way over; the lights were down.

“You were hiding here all this time and didn’t help?” Taylor growled at the guard. She then noticed the man at his feet and knelt down to see if she could do something.

“They came out of nowhere!” The guard told the man in tights. “I dragged Jerry in here, powered up the gate. Must have passed out.” He explained, looking at Taylor.

“Joker went through that door.” Batman told him. “What’s on the other side?”

“We call it Extreme Isolation. Only way in is via the transport system.”

“Open it.” Batman growled.

“Not a problem. I’ll just need to call another cell.” He turned to the computer. “Something’s wrong here,” He commented after a few moments. “The main security loop is locked.”

“Here, let me see it,” The woman moved towards the computer but the screen made all three of them turn to see Joker on it. 

_“Having a little trouble up there?”_

“Joker!” Batman growled.

 _“You were expecting maybe Two-Face?”_ The man in purple chuckled.

”I’d happily rather deal with Dent.” Taylor replied.

_“Oh, that hurts!”_

“There’s no escape, Joker!”

 _“Silly Bat! Don’t want to escape. I’m having way too much fun. I even have you here to keep a smile on my face.”_ He pointed. Taylor had to place a hand over her mouth so Batman didn’t see the grin.

“Not for long.” Was the Dark Knight’s reply.

 _“Really?”_ Joker asked. _“We’ll see. Ta ta.”_ He moved to leave but returned and grabbed the screen and turned it. _“Oh, I forgot to say. Just in case you were planning on following me, I’ve arranged a little insurance. Gordon is on his way to Harley as we speak.”_ The other screen showed one of the Guards hitting Commissioner Gordon from behind with his baton.

“Bolos, you bastard!” Taylor growled as Joker let out one of his laughs. 

_“If I see you trying to follow me, he dies. Harley is looking forward to it. Maybe I’ll film it and post it on the internet.”_

The screen went blank.

“The Transport system is down,” The guard told them. “Best I can do is open the door you came in. Sorry.”

“We have to go save Gordon. Taylor instantly told the man beside her.


	4. Following the ‘hol

“Told you it was a traitor.”

Batman restrained from rolling his eyes at the woman beside him as they traveled through the halls. Their next target was the Holding Cells. Oracle had contacted Batman to check what had happened and was worried about her father. Taylor had been too busy stomping on more chattering teeth to hear what they were talking about but she got the most of it. As they passed through the halls, Joker popped up on the screens again.

_“I bet you’re wondering how I did it! Was it a clue the great detective missed? Oh, me and Frankie go way back. I got him out of a spot of…bother a few years ago.”_

“You know,” Taylor began as the Joker continued to talk. “After you get used to his laugh…you gotta admit it’s kinda cool.” Batman looked at her like she was crazy. “What?”

“Why are you here?” He asked her.

“To save my brother, remember?”

“Then stop talking about the enemy.”

“It’s kinda hard to do that when you’re fighting them and listening to them on the intercom.” She told him.

“Then stop complimenting them.” He growled.

“Oooh, why, are you jealous? Want me to compliment you instead?” Taylor fought a smirk. “All right, I will. As soon as you tell me who you really are.”

Batman froze and glared at her. “Really? At a time like this?”

“Hey,” She shrugged. “Who knows how long we’re going to be in here? Guessing who you are is very entertaining.” She gave him a look. “You know, if you tell me then all of this will be over with.” The man in tights glared at her before turning to walk off. Taylor gave off a laugh before following him.

 _~At least I’ll be entertained while crawling through these vents.~_ She told herself.

They popped up on some of the inmates that had beaten the hell out of some guards. Batman quickly took care of them while Taylor made sure that the guards were still alive. They were beaten to hell and back but they would be all right in the end.

The door before slid open leading them to another set of blue strips blocking their way of getting further into the Asylum so all they had left was the Holding Cells to the left.

“Did we seriously just go in a damn circle?” Taylor asked, her mouth dropping open as she saw the broken window that she had jumped through before and then the knocked out inmates that she and Batman had taken care of almost an hour or so ago. The silence was her answer. They had gone in a complete circle. She hadn’t even thought about that. But then again, this was where they left Gordon so this is where Bolos had to come for him.

“Oracle, I’m at the Holding Cells. I’m setting up the crime scene.” Batman announced before turning to Taylor. “Stay out here.”

She nodded, understanding. Besides, she wanted to watch. This was Batman firsthand, after all. She wanted to see if fighting was all that he could do. That and she didn’t have any of those special gadgets that he did.

“Bolos dropped his flask,” She heard Batman say. “Sloppy. Let’s see what the forensic scanner picks up.”

“You know that talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity,” Taylor called to him. “But considering all this crap that you go through with Joker you have a reason for it.” If she was heard, Batman didn’t reply and she sighed. Standing here and doing absolutely nothing important was infuriating and she was beginning to grow annoyed. She wanted to hurry up and get her brother but now she was going to get Gordon first. She could trust Dylan on his own. He could take care of himself for a little while.

Hopefully.

“Come on,” Batman walked towards her. “We can follow traces of alcohol from Frank’s bourbon in the atmosphere.”

“How in the hell are we going to-” Taylor paused and held up her hands, shaking her head. “Never mind. I’ll just trust you and your little gadgets, Bats. Now, let’s follow the ‘hol.”

Batman moved at a quick walk, keeping silent as he led the way through the Transfer Loop. It took them about 30 or so minutes to follow the alcohol to an elevator with a guard standing at the panel on the wall.

“Stupid, unreliable…” The guard cursed at the elevator controls. “How did Joker get-”

“Be quiet,” Batman hissed. He stared down at the shaft for a moment before a pair of red boots dropped down in front of them.

“Uh, uh, uh, uh, B-man! Mr. J doesn’t want you following us just yet!” Harley Quinn wagged a finger.

Harley pressed a button and something above them exploded. Harley was shot up into the air as they heard metal scraping on metal as the elevator came down. Batman tossed the guard out of the way before throwing his arms around Taylor to keep her safe from the metal and static that flew by them. But not before the top right of his suit got cut open.

“Are you all right?” She demanded when she saw it. With a closer look it seemed that just his outfit was ripped; no blood or cut at all. Not even a red mark.

“I’m fine.” He nodded, pulling back from her.

“What the hell happened?” The guard asked.

“How did you like that, B-Man?” Harley’s voice called down to them. “No way you’re following us now. You’re trapped down there until me and Mr. J are ready for ya.”

Taylor narrowed her eyes and turned back to the man in tights. “I want her.” She hissed. The look the man in tights gave her made her sigh. “I’m not gonna kill her. I’m just gonna…well, saying not torturing her is not entirely true.” She grinned.

Batman stared at her. “Admitting it doesn’t change my answer.”

Taylor sighed. “Yeah, I know. Stubborn ass.”

“Gordon was taken up to the surface in the elevator,” Batman began, turning from the conversation and to a new one. “If we want to follow them we need to do this the old fashioned way.”

Taylor looked at him cautiously for a moment. “What do you mean by that?” 

The man in tights wore a small grin before wrapping his arm around her waist and shooting his line up to the ledge above them. Batman moved quickly so Taylor had to hold onto him while heading up both times. When they landed, Taylor glared at the man as she tried to calm her heartbeat. She then sighed and rubbed her left arm a bit before walking forward. She had no idea where to go so she had to follow the man in tights again. She felt…awkward for some reason in doing so. She was normally doing a bunch of stuff on her own; her partner normally let her go for it. Her brother was the only one that she trusted, so of course she was nervous about what was going on. The Prison was being taken over by the inmates. Something told her that she could trust Batman but at the same time she was cautious. That was a good idea, right?

Shimmying across made Taylor bit her bottom lip. If she hadn't taken karate she doubted that she would have been able to do that.

He apparently didn’t like talking. Every time Taylor tried to ask him something he either shot her a look or stayed silent. She didn’t count how long it went on like that but her patience was wearing thin.

 _“Hey Bats! I know you can hear me.”_ Joker’s voice called to them from the intercom. _“I’ve got a little something for you to listen to.”_ Batman kicked the vent off and crawled out, Taylor behind him. _“Harley and Frank are nearly out of the building with the old man. How are they going to get past all those guards? Let’s have a listen, shall we?”_

Taylor listened to the guards confronting Frank and his reactions with the guards involving shooting them and then a quick conversation with Harley. 

_“Did you hear that, Bats? Sounds like Frankie is working out just fine! Another valuable employee for the organization.”_

Batman shot his grappling hook again and Taylor frowned as he reached for her hand. “You know, you don’t happen to have two of them, do you?” She asked.

He stared at her. “No, I don’t.”

“Damn.” She sighed before grabbing him again. Don’t get me wrong there was nothing wrong with that, but still. Pressing her body against this man made feelings swirl in her stomach. She didn’t really pay attention to the love life that most people did, and any man touching her made her flush, but for one to be holding her, gripping her to his body…she was surprised that she didn’t get a nosebleed. 

The ceiling that led them up involved jumping, crawling, shimmying, sliding, climbing, and just about every exercise that Taylor could think of. Crawling on her knees across the holes in the path made her wince but she wasn’t going to make a sound. If Batman could do it so could she. She wasn’t going to let him be better than her no matter what!

The alarm for Warden Sharpe making his way to the secure unit went off and Taylor frowned.

“You know, shimmying…” She breathed hard as she pulled herself up to her knees on the metal pathway. “Is so much easier…on video games.”

As they climbed over the small gate and the intercom went off about a security breach on level A4 and A6 they ignored the intercom as they grappled up another long set and crawled through a bit more of the area.

“Tell me, is today just a special event or do you like crawling on your hands and knees?” Taylor asked him.

Batman didn’t stop crawling but she could have sworn that she heard a snort. Well, if the Dark Knight was trying to keep himself from laughing then it meant that at least she wasn’t annoying him. Maybe she should try making him laugh a bit more. It might make traveling with him a bit more fun.

They finally reached a group of inmates all gathered around yet another guard and Taylor went crazy on them before Batman could even move. She was good at dodging the one that held a pipe piece before kicking him in the groin and making him cry like a little bitch.

 _“How’s it going?”_ Oracle’s voice joined them. _“Have you found my dad?”_

“Not yet,” Batman shook his head. “But I’m getting close. Harley Quinn tried to slow us down. Dropped an elevator.” He told her. He then glanced to the side as Taylor gave a cursing before kicking the inmate in the face again.

_“Did it work?”_

“Dumb question,” Taylor commented, pulling her collar loose. “If it had he wouldn’t be talking to you.” She stated. She had a point.

“Of course not. I’ll get back to you when I reach the end of the trail.”

“The doors are locked,” the woman sighed, walking over to the vent in the wall. “It seems that this is the only way out now.” She reached down and tried to pull it out but it barely moved. 

Giving a curse she pulled harder until the Dark Knight stepped up behind her, leaning over her to help pull it out. Neither of them said anything and she was pleased that he hadn’t. She was a bit disappointed in herself. She couldn’t pull it out on her own and yet Batman could? Did that make her…weak?

“Please, I’ve got a kid! You don’t have to-” The voice outside of the vent, in the Cell Block Transfer area, cried out before a gun went off.

“You’re right. I don’t have to.” A voice chuckled. “I just want to. Boss says no one gets past. Anything moves, shoot it!”

“You got it! Anything coming this way is dead!”

“How in the hell are we supposed to work this out?” Taylor whispered. There was nowhere else for them to go.

“Just stay here.” Batman told her. 

She frowned but there wasn’t much that she could do since Batman had refused to give her back her gun and she’d rather not get shot herself, you know? She had before and it hurt like a bitch.

Batman silently kicked out the vent cover and moved off. Taylor only had to wait a few moments to hear Batman talking to Oracle for a moment and sighed. She hated not being able to do anything. Maybe she should find a vest here from one of the guards. Did they even have bullet-proof vests here?

“Taylor,” Batman called out. She glanced back out into the room and saw him standing there. She crawled out and saw the three bodies lying there, knocked out. Their guns were sprawled out across the floor and she knelt down, picking up one of the rifles. “What are you doing?” Batman asked her. “I thought I told you no guns.”

“I’m not going to kill them,” Taylor growled. “But it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.” She held her hand out for her own handgun. He stared at her for a moment before de-hooking it from his waist and handing it back.

“If you kill them-”

“Don’t worry. I know better. Don’t wet yourself now,” She told him with a grin. “Trust me, Bats. I won’t kill anyone, I promise.” He looked at her for a moment in silence before nodding and turning to continue to the door.

 _“Our friendly neighborhood rodent and his new friend are on their way.”_ Joker’s voice began. _“You need to set a trap. They must not leave this building. Do you understand me?”_

Pausing, Taylor nodded her head to the right and led the way up the stairs. One of the men was standing there, talking to Joker on the screen.

“…Yes, boss. The Bat is as good as dead!”

 _“I hope you keep your promises, boy. I’d hate to have to go and punish your family just to teach you a lesson. I can promise you. They won’t be laughing!”_ He laughed.

“But Joker-”

The man mocked him. _“Just do it! And have fun. I know I will!”_ Taylor zipped in just then and quickly took the guard out herself. She wore a victory smirk as Batman stepped in after her and the Joker grinned. _“Oh, look who it is! Are your pointy ears burning? I suppose I’d better warn my boys you’re on the way. Hey, maybe I won’t. It’ll be a nice surprise!”_ The screen cut off.

“You know, one would think that he would warn his men and get the upper hand, you know?” Taylor looked for a button on the table to open the locked door but found nothing until she turned around to see Batman pulling another vent loose. 

_“Joker here with a quick update on what’s new in the asylum. Attention. We have an escaped patient. Dresses like a bat. What an idiot. At least his companion dresses…normal. Both should be considered costumed and dangerous. Stop them before they get someone hurt. Really. It’s for their own good.”_

“Let’s go,” Batman told her, bending down to crawl through the passage. This one was short, just leading them to the other side of the wall. Batman paused for a moment, thinking about the men in front of them in the new room.

“They have guns, right?” Taylor asked him.

Batman glanced over his shoulder. “Yes.”

“Then watch out.” She grinned, pulling the rifle off of her back. At the look on his face she grinned. “Don’t worry. I won’t shoot them.” It was hard to switch places in the vent but they did it. Taylor paused for a moment as she lined up the rifle, aiming for the man’s leg. She rolled her eyes after she shot him as his own gun fell from his hands. She would have grabbed the gun again and fired at everything.

She waited until the second man came out and then repeated herself. A few more ran over, giving the total number of six, and when they all arrived the next moment they all were now rolling on the floor, gripping their wounded leg before Batman moved out of the vent-shaft and knocked them out.

“Not too bad, huh?” Taylor grinned, placing the gun over her shoulder. 

_“Did you really think it was going to be that easy, Bats? I’ve sent a few more of my boys your way. Let’s see how you deal with these odds!”_

“More of them?” Taylor looked at the Dark Knight. “Should I get back in the vent?”

Batman thought for a quick moment. “No, I have a better idea.”

…

Taylor felt like she was about to piss herself. Batman had thought that it would have been a good idea and now she was hanging onto one of the gargoyles that was towards the ceiling of the room. Why there were gargoyles in the Asylum she had no idea but Batman had jumped off somewhere else, leaving her there by herself. She was hanging onto the stone gargoyle, praying that it didn’t break when the door to her right opened.

“Joker wants them found!” A shirtless man told the others. “Spread out!”

“They could be anywhere.”

“Then keep your eyes open. Now move!”

Taylor took aim. There were only three of them. Piece of cake. She aimed her gun, getting ready when Batman dropped down on the three of them and began to fight. Narrowing her eyes she frowned before taking her gun and firing. The three men fell to the ground, letting Batman’s foot connect with their faces and knock them out.

“See, using guns makes it faster. And there’s no way they can die from the wound in the legs. They just won’t be able to walk on their own for a little while. That and the bleeding will stop in about five or so minutes.” Taylor grinned as she stared down at the man in tights as he moved beneath the gargoyle.

“Things can take a turn for the worst.” Batman told her.

“Yeah well, if they do, I can tell you honestly that I will not care after them threatening us like that.” She admitted. “That just means that they can’t hack it.” She glanced down at him. “Are you going to come get me or are you going to make me jump again?”

Batman just stood there, staring at her for a moment. Taylor struggled not to roll her eyes before jumping off the gargoyle.


	5. No! Not the Batmobile!

“So, can I ask you something, Bats?”

Batman glanced at the woman. “What?”

Taylor grabbed the ladder and began to climb up to the floor to the door they needed to walk though. “What is it that made you decide to become…this?”

“This?” He asked her.

“Yeah. Why do you go around doing what you do with all these bad guys? I know you didn’t just pop up one day and say ‘Hey, let’s dress in tights and fight around Gotham’. There’s gotta be a reason behind it.”

“Why do you care?” Was her answer.

“I’m just curious. It’s not like you’re trying to make up a conversation to make this trip any easi-oh my,” Taylor mumbled out at the sight before them. Boles was dead now, his mouth hanging open and his face painted green as it was strapped to a pushing cart(I’m not sure what they’re called. It’s the thing that Joker was strapped to in the beginning.)

“Joker must have figured out how we were tracking Gordon.” Batman sighed.

“Shit,” She scowled, turning her gaze from the man. She kicked at the chattering teeth that were moving around their feet. “What do we do now?”

“We-”

 _“…Can you hear me Batman? I know you can.”_ Taylor raised a brow at the static voice and leaned in closer to hear it better; she smirked to herself as the man in tights seemed to lean down a bit so it would be easier. _“Yes, it is I, Edward Nigma, the Riddler and more importantly your intellectual superior.”_

“Oh dear lord,” Taylor squeezed the bridge of her nose. She knew the story and she was now asking herself who was going to be worse; The Riddler or The Joker.

 _“My genius has allowed me to easily hack into your primitive communications. My goal is simple! You complete a series of amusingly taxing challenges and, well, you’ll see.”_ He chuckled. _“Ready for your first one? Good. But be careful! Don’t CUT yourself on this SHARPLY observed portrait.”_

Taylor pulled back from Batman for a moment and glanced around the area for a portrait. She found it quickly and glared at the man beside her. “That’s it? That’s the best you got?” Batman glanced at the portrait in silence for a moment before Riddler’s voice joined them again.

 _“So you did it! Well done. I would have expected a child to work that one out, let alone the world’s greatest detective.”_ He then went on about how he’s set up dozens of puzzles and riddles around the Asylum.

“I hate riddles,” Taylor sighed, hanging her head.

“Hey, Batman!” They both turned to the side to see that a man had opened a door for them, calling them over.

“William,” Taylor greeted the man. “What happened?”

“It was a massacre,” Will shook his bald head. “Boles came walking in telling everyone to cover the front entrance. Said something about Joker’s army coming through the main gate! Two of my guys moved to the exit and Frank shot ‘em dead. They never stood a chance.”

“Was Boles alone?” Batman asked as Taylor rubbed her head with a sigh.

“Thought he was, then I saw Harley Quinn. She was surrounded by Blackgate prisoners. There were just killing everyone in the room! I had no choice. I got in here and locked the door. I could see it all on the security feed. They had someone with them. It looked like the Commissioner.”

“Boles is dead,” The Dark Knight told him. “They carried on without him. Must have outlived his usefulness.”

“Good!” William growled. “He was scum!”

Taylor glanced at the new door ahead of them. “And behind door number one,” She sighed, hanging her head a bit as she walked forward.

“Are you all right?” 

She glanced over her shoulder at the man in tights and gave him a thumbs up. “Never better.”

Batman couldn’t tell if she was being serious or sarcastic. Maybe both.

Down several flights of stairs they found themselves in the locker rooms for the guards and doctors. Someone must have torn through them, searching for something. The sound of a radio going off with a creepy tune that did not fit the Asylum until someone cut it off. They listened to it intently as they moved through the locker hall.

_“We apologize for this interruption to our regular broadcast. Jack Ryder is live from the Gotham bay area with some breaking news.”_

_“This is Jack Ryder with breaking news in the Gotham bay. We’re getting reports of an armed siege on Arkham Island. Two minutes ago, Joker broadcast to all news channels this chilling message:”_ Joker’s voice then took over. _“Greetings, Gotham. This is the voice of your new master. Oh, hang on, I’ve skipped a bit!”_

“Blah, blah, blah,” Taylor shoved the next door open. “I don’t care.”

Batman smirked as he followed her into what appeared to be the file room. There was nothing really there besides the files and boxes except for the vent they found themselves traveling through again. The vent led them outside (Taylor gave a cheer with a large breath of fresh air) and as they climbed out onto the ledge they got a good view of the entire Asylum. It looked extremely…creeping underneath the full moon.

“So,” Taylor looked at the Dark Knight. “What now?”

“It would be easier with just one person,” Batman told her. “But…” He gave her body a look up and down. “How much do you weigh?”

Taylor instantly stomped a foot with an angry look. “A lot less than your muscly ass, that’s for sure.” 

_~But a nice muscly ass, at that~_ She silently giggled.

“I need to know so I can be sure if I can carry you down with me.” He told her, struggling to keep his face from breaking out into a smirk.

She scowled at him, crossing his arms. “I can tell you that it’s under 180,” She frowned. “WAY under.”

“Good.” Batman picked her up in his arms and ran forward, jumping off the cliff without another word.

Taylor almost let out a scream when he jumped but she then caught sight of his cape spreading out like a parachute, gliding both of them safely to the ground. In the process of it though, Joker’s voice reached them again.

_“Hmm. Harley tells me that the Batman’s car is still parked just outside of the Intensive Treatment building. Now, we can’t just have him up and leave us, can we?”_

“Fuck!” Taylor cried, in fear of her Mustang. “I swear if they lay even one finger on my baby-!”

“Your car will be fine. It’ll be mine that they’ll have their attention on.” The man in tights told her as they landed near another man that worked at the Asylum.

“Batman!” The Security sighed in relief. He gave the woman a confused look but stayed silent about it. “You got out. What’s happening back there? We got directed over here and then the radios died. They keep playing this damned tune over and over.”

“The Joker got control of the Island,” Taylor told him. “He’s got to be responsible for sending you over here.”

“How did he get out? I mean, you’re here and…” He looked at Batman.

“He had a little inside help,” She replied.

“An Arkham guard named Frank Boles betrayed you all. He broke out Joker, who killed him when he was no longer needed.” Batman explained.

“Heh, some loyalty,” The man sniffed. “Do you need any help?”

“No, you and your men are safer here. I’ll find you if I need anything.” Batman told him.

“Besides, he’s got me so we’ll be fine.” Taylor grinned, praising herself.

“Oh yeah?” The man raised a brow. “And who are you?”

“I’m Carmichael’s sister. By the way, have you seen-” She raised a brow at the look of horror on the man’s face. “What is it?”

“You…you’re Jackal’s twin?” He demanded.

Jackal?” Taylor smirked. 

_~I haven’t heard that name since he was discharged from the Marines. I guess the name sticks~_

“Yeah, that would be-” The man took off running into the small building like he was running from death, shouting for her brother not to kill him. “What in the hell has Dylan done this time?” She asked herself, shaking her head. “Has he been threatening the men or giving out lies about me again?” She watched after the man for a moment longer before turning back to the man in tights. “So, where to next, B-man?” 

“Give me one second,” The man turned from her and placed a finger against his ear. He was getting rather interested in where her brother was. Had he escaped from Poison Ivy’s den and if he had where was he and what was he doing now? “Oracle, disable the Batmobile’s countermeasure system!”

_“I saw the alert, what’s wrong? Where are you?”_

“We’re outside the Arkham Mansion. Harley Quinn probably triggered the alarm. If she’s still got Gordon with her, he could get hurt.”

_“Ok, done! The Batmobile is still parked up outside the Intensive Treatment building in Arkham North. I’ve sent you the schematics for the entire island. I’ve marked key locations like your car.”_

“Thanks, Oracle.” The man then fell silent as if he were looking at something that Taylor couldn’t see. 

“So, I take it that we’re going to go save your car?” Taylor asked him. “Don’t you think that that should be the last of your problems? You can make another one, right?”

“That’s not the point,” Batman told her. “Harley Quinn will be around there somewhere. If we get there in time she might have Gordon with her or lead us to where she took him.”

“Oh,” Taylor nodded as they walked through the door to the west. “Not a bad idea.”

Inside here were two men and an ambulance blocking the way to the next door. Only one of the men was alive.

“I can’t believe it,” The man shook his head as he leaned against the ambulance. “They killed Jackson.”

“Stay with your colleague,” Batman told him. “I’m ending this. Now.”

They moved to the other side of the gate behind the ambulance and took down the two inmates holding guns quietly before heading through the door. It wasn’t hard to set their eyes on the car they were here for. A bunch of thugs were around it now, beating the hell out of it.

“We need to distract them. Taylor, you-” 

“NO! NOT THE BATMOBILE!” Taylor’s cry cut the man in tights off as she ran at the inmates. The men all looked up just in time to have Batman join in the fray with fists and feet.

_“The entire island will soon be under my control,”_ Joker’s voice began as they fought. _“That’s right, boys and girls. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Just wait until you see my plans for this place. It’s going to be glorious.”_

“Don’t ever do that again!” Batman roared at her, a bit out of breath after the final inmate fell down. 

“What? We got your car back.” Taylor shrugged, looking at the black vehicle behind her. “Though it does look like it took a beating.” She then turned and saw her blue and white mustang, clean and perfect like she had left it. “My baby!” She ran to it and ran her hand down its hood. “Oh, them bad meanies didn’t touch you, did they? It’s okay; I’ll give you a bath when we get home.”

The Dark Knight watched her as she petted her car and shocked himself when a mental image of her in a bikini washing her car in front of a house popped into his mind. Covering his eyes with a groan he turned around and tried to knock it out of his head. This was NOT the time to be thinking about something like that!

“Hey, you all right?” Taylor called to him. Ignoring her question, Batman straightened and turned to the trunk of his car to pull something out. “What is that?” She asked him. 

“Explosive gel,” He answered her. “We may need it later.” He then backed away and glanced around the area. “Harley trashed the car. Looks like there was a scuffle. We need to search the area. There could be a clue as to where she took Gordon.”

“Perhaps footprints?” Taylor offered up. “You could track just hers, right? Kinda like you did with the alcohol on Boles?”

_“Joker here! Let me remind all new residents of Joker Asylum that they are expected to follow 1 simple rule. Punishment for not following the rule is death. No ifs, ands, or buts. You know what the best thing is about the rule? It’s a secret.”_

“Maybe, but that’s not a bad idea. Maybe we could-ha!” Batman grinned as his eyes landed on a nearby pipe. “Gordon’s pipe.”

“Really?” Taylor moved over and looked at it. “There’s no way that he’d leave that here.”

“Wild country,” Batman smirked. “Gordon’s favorite tobacco. Gordon is smarter than he looks! He left us a trail to follow.”

“Boss became a boss for a reason,” Taylor smiled herself as she picked the pipe up and shoved it into her back pocket. “Let’s give him that back when we catch up to him.”


	6. The Doctor is Out

“You know, I don’t understand what you’re supposed to do with these things,” Taylor tossed the Riddler Trophy at Batman. They had found several of them while following after Gordon again. They were hidden pretty good but what Taylor didn’t understand was two things. 1. What was Riddler thinking, and 2. How did he hide all of these when the inmates had only been free for about an hour or two now? He had to be thinking about this for weeks. There was no way in hell that this was just a spur of the moment thing.

Batman’s explosive gel did come in handy for small holes or ways to make new doors but it also brought around inmates to fight and annoyance to Taylor. Annoyance because the only symbols he drew with the gel were bats. 

“Obsessed much?” She asked him the third time he did it. He glared at her but she didn’t seem to notice. “I mean, really? BATman, BATmobile, BATarang, next thing you know I’ll find out that you have a Batdog or a Batcat or even a...” Something then struck her and she looked back at him with a firm look. “You don’t have a bat for a pet, do you?”

“Do you always ask such annoying questions?” He asked her.

She looked surprised for a second before a grin burst out across her face. “Oh, is the big, bad Bat annoyed now? My apologies.”

The man in tights glared at her for a moment before giving a sigh and turning to walk off. She grinned, watching after him before moving. The Tobacco trail led them to the Visitor Center. There were two of the inmates with hammer, beginning to build something against the building but Batman put a stop to that immediately before noticing a security officer over in the guard tower.

“Batman…” The man sighed. “What’s going on? The crazies are moving towards the Medical Facility. What’s Joker doing?”

“He’s trying to take over the island piece by piece. It looks like Medical is his next target.” Taylor agreed with that but something didn’t feel right. Something else had to be going on. “Has anyone got out of the building?”

“I saw a doctor try and get out…He was torn apart…thrown in the water. He never stood a chance.”

“You wait here.” The Dark Knight told him. “We’ll be back.”

“You know, for being security guards at the top-rank prison, their battle skills suck.” Taylor commented as they moved towards the Medical building. Batman thought for a moment and had to agree. Especially with so many guards that were constantly here.

There was a group of inmates waiting on them and Joker decided to make his comments while they fought. Taylor found herself extremely angry when one of them landed a fist to the side of her face before she landed a hard as hell blow to his nether regions. 

She was rubbing the side of her face when Batman grabbed her chin and turned her head so he could get his own look. “Are you all right?” He asked her.

Taylor stared at him for a moment before turning her gaze away, fighting the blush that she felt wanting to break free. 

She couldn’t help it. It was freaking Batman! 

“Yeah. He just got a lucky hit. It won’t happen again.”

“Be careful,” He told her before pulling away to the front doors of the Medical building.

“Yeah,” She said again, standing back up. She moved her jaw around and it tweaked a little bit but not too much. She’d be fine.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Taylor growled at the sight that met them behind the door. Harley Quinn was sitting at a table with her feet propped up behind the safety of one of those laser gates again while reading a magazine. 

Quinn looked up at the voice. “Hey! Scram! This is my me time!”

“I’ll show you ‘me time’, Quinn!” Taylor had never dealt with Joker or Quinn personally, just their goons, but she felt...sorry for the blonde. Joker had warped her mind and she succumbed to him.  
Had she met the blond beforehand, they probably would have been good friends. 

“Where’s Gordon?” Batman demanded.

Harley snorted. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I’m over here!” Gordon’s voice came from the right side of the room.

“Shut up!” Quinn growled, throwing a bottle at the man in the corner.

“You crazy bitch!” Gordon growled.

“Whoo!” Taylor moved to the left so she could get a better look at the elder man. He was bound and on the floor. “You sound pissed there, boss,” She grinned. 

Gordon looked up at her. “You all right?”

“Of course!” She grinned. “You didn’t think that they were going to beat me, did you? I’m the best you’ve got!” Gordon couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

 _“Harley!”_ Joker’s face popped up on the TV screen. The woman gave a squeal and ran to it. _“What’s he doing here? He’s too early!”_

“I’m sorry, puddin’! Don’t be angry with me.” Quinn cried.

“No, be angry with her! Rip her to pieces.” Taylor called to the creep on the screen. Harley turned and glared at the other woman as Joker let out a laugh.

“We’re not getting through here,” Batman told her, heading back outside.

“We’ll be back, Boss. You hang in there.” Taylor called to Gordon before following the Dark Knight. “So, gotta find another way through, huh?” She thought to herself for a moment. “Perhaps there’s a door on the roof or maybe an open window somewhere.”

“Good idea,” the man nodded. “And if not, we can make one.”

With another trip up in the air, they found a hole in the ceiling, exposing a soft sheet of plywood that the man in tights exploded. They were traveling down instead of up this time so it was a bit easier than before but Taylor gladly stated that she was taking gymnastics so she could move swifter. With some more circus moves through the Maintenance Access, with Joker’s constant annoying comments, they came across a group of inmates forcing some doctors off somewhere.

“What does he want with the doctors?” Batman wondered.

“Maybe one of them will know something if we save them.” Taylor replied. She already drew her gun out and fired. Batman dropped down to gather the attention while she did her part.

While Batman took down the final inmate, Taylor dropped down herself and hurried to the doctors. “Are you all right?” She demanded. 

“Yes,” A bald one told her, rubbing his chest; she was sure his heart was going a thousand miles right now. 

“I don’t know what happened,” The redhead told her. “One minute we were doing our evening rounds, and the next, armed thugs burst into the room and took us hostage.”

“Was there anyone with them?” Taylor asked.

The woman nodded as Batman freed the two men from the chairs. “They took someone into the elevator. I couldn’t tell who it was.”

“Well, we know they didn’t want to be followed,” Taylor commented due to the powered down elevator. “You’ll be fine here, just stay hidden if someone other than me or Bats here comes in, got it?”

“No problem on that,” The woman gave a half-hearted chuckle.

“What about the others?” The elder man asked. “We heard gunfire. They could be dead! We should go and help.”

“Oh no,” The redhead shook. “I forgot Doctor Kellerman was in the Patient Observation Room and Dr. Chen went to Surgery.”

“And Dr. Young went to X-ray.”

“Why the hell would they do that?” Taylor asked them.

“Kellerman and Chen were there when the attack happened. Young went to go gather some of her notes so they wouldn’t find them.”

Taylor pursed her lips at that. Something felt...off. What was it they were worried about Joker’s goons finding?

“Stay here,” Batman told them. “We’ll find the other doctors.”

All they had to do was follow the red stripe down the hall to reach the Observation room quickly. The guard and doctor, Kellerman, were locked in some room and being watched by a set of inmates. Taking the two bad guys down was easy, giving them east access to the room before them.

“Cash!” Taylor cried, placing her hands against the glass 

“Taylor!” The tall man was surprised to see his partner’s sister. “What are you still doing here?”

“You can talk later,” Batman told them. “What happened?” 

Cash didn’t argue. “There was an alarm in Medical. I heard someone shouting and found the Doc lying on the floor. When I went to help him, the room was flooded with gas. These doors locked down. We can’t get out. Don’t know how long we can last.” The man answered.

_“How brave,”_ Joker decided to comment over the intercom again. _“Let’s give Mr. Cash a great big hand! He could use one.”_

"You’ll be laughin’ out your butt when I get outta here.” Cash growled. 

_“Lighten up, homes. I’m just messing with ya.”_

Taylor snorted at them both. 

“Can’t wait to return the favor.” 

__“Leave it, Cash. Can you control the ventilation system in there?” Batman asked._ _

__“Tried, it’s a no go. He’s disabled remote access.”_ _

__“I’ll find a way.” The man in tights turned to the large doors to the right but they were locked. He glanced around and noticed the vent above them on the air shafts. He pulled out his grappling hook._ _

__“We’ll be right there,” Taylor told the black man. “Don’t worry.” Batman grabbed her like normal and through the air the traveled and another vent they crawled. “I seriously need one of these!” She grinned at the tool belt Batman wore. “After all this is over, can I have it?”_ _

__Batman looked at her like she was crazy for a moment. “Why would you want it?”_ _

__“Think of it as a memorabilia of our wonderful time together of beating up rogue inmates deep into the night beneath the moonlight.” She sighed and then gave a laugh. “God, does that sound like a hell of a romance novel or what?”_ _

__The man beside her gave another snort and she got a quick glance at the smile on his face. With a good feeling traveling through her, Taylor watched as Batman tossed his little Batarangs and set power to the fans. That gas of Joker’s was quickly cleared and the two of them landed as Cash and Kellerman exited the Observation room._ _

___“Surprise, surprise. Batman arrives just in the nick of time. Next time, Cash, I’ll just shoot you and be done with it.”_ Joker sighed._ _

__Doctor Kellerman coughed as he leaned against the wall. Taylor placed a hand on his back, making sure that he was okay as Cash and Batman talked._ _

__“Let’s go get the others.” Batman told the woman._ _

__“Yeah,” She nodded but turned to Cash really quick. “Hey, Cash, have you heard from my brother?”_ _

__“Dylan?” Cash shook his head. “He was making his final rounds around the Penitentiary.”_ _

__“What the hell is he even doing right now?,” She shook her head.. “Keep safe, all right?”_ _

__Cash nodded. “Your brother’s fine, Taylor. He’s smart. You’ll find him.” The man’s words cheered her up._ _

__The next Doctor they found next was Chen. He was pinned down to the chair with a cage over his head._ _

__“Oh my God,” Taylor glared at the sight. “What the hell, is this a scene from a new _SAW_ movie?_ _

__“Batman!” Chen cried._ _

__“Don’t speak,” The Dark Knight told him. “You’re safe now.”_ _

__“But, it’s a trap!” The Doctor warned them._ _

__“I know,” Batman nodded. “Just not for me.”_ _

__Joker appeared on the screens behind the chair again. _“It’s true!”_ He gasped. _“You truly are the world’s greatest detective. How did you do that, Bats? A little help from your female companion.”_ He wiggled his eyebrows._ _

__Taylor snorted. “Trust me, he’d get a lot more help from me than you would, Clown Boy.”_ _

___“Oh, too bad.”_ Joker pulled a face before his grin broke back out. _“What the hell. Get down there, boys. See if he can detect being punched in the face!”_ Batman took down the guards that jumped from the upper floor while Taylor removed the Doctor from the chair as the Joker hollered at his men for losing. _“Don’t get too full of yourself, Bats. I’m just softening ya up! Think of this as a preview to the main event. You’ll see!”__ _

__“I’m sorry,” Chen sighed, looking at the other man. “I tried to tell you. I couldn’t speak.”_ _

__“Relax,” Taylor told him with a smile. “If Batman couldn’t handle a group of low-life thugs like that then he has no right to even think about wearing those tights of his!”_ _

__Batman gave her a look but her comment seemed to cheer Chen up as he laughed. He’d let it slide; this time._ _

__There was just one doctor left to find, over in the X-ray section. They didn’t waste any time getting over there._ _

__“Why are you doing this?” The woman’s voice traveled to them from behind a closed off room. “I have done exactly as you asked.”_ _

__“Look at me! You think I care? Stop your whining and listen good! If anyone goes near you without Joker’s express permission then I’ve been ordered to make sure you are taken out ASAP. Looks like you’re our bargaining chip.”_ _

__“Gotta tell ya, the boss is all over this job. Planned like a military operation on the inside and out.”_ _

__“I am quite aware that this job, as you call it, requires friends. What I want to know is why you chose me.” The Doctor replied. “Did Joker specify me? Why don’t you let me talk to him? I’m sure we can settle this.”_ _

__“Lady, if I have to tell you once more I’m going to hurt you! You understand? Shut the hell up! If the boss wants to talk to you, he’ll talk to you. ‘Till then, keep that trap of yours zipped.”_ _

__“Well, that’s enough of that.” Taylor grinned, taking the detonator from the man beside her. Ducking behind the wall she clicked the button and plugged her ears and the wall exploded, knocking the group of men out with the rubble._ _

__“What’s going on?” Young demanded. “They were talking like they were in control. Is it true that Joker escaped?”_ _

__“Oh, it was no problem saving you,” Taylor decided to reply. “You’re welcome.”_ _

__“Unfortunately, yes.” Batman answered the doctor. “But not for long.”_ _

__“I’d been studying Joker’s case for months when he broke out. The Warden was very specific he wanted Joker cured.” The woman told them._ _

__“Cured?” Taylor rose a brow._ _

__“Bad publicity will affect his campaign for Mayor.” Batman explained._ _

__“Dear lord,” She sighed again. “This is what all this is about? The Mayor campaign?”_ _

__Young agreed. “That’ll be the least of his…God, I almost forgot. They said they were moving through the facility, hunting down the other doctors.”_ _

__“No need to worry about that, we already saved the others they had.” Taylor told her._ _

__“You’ll be safe if you remain here.” Batman told her before turning to Taylor. “We need to go pick up Gordon’s trail again.”_ _

__“Back to the other doctors then, I suppose.” She nodded. “The elevator is there.” Batman agreed and they moved through the halls until they reached the main room again. The doctors from before were all waiting on them._ _

__“Did you find them?” The redhead demanded. “Are they okay?”_ _

__“Yes, they’re safe now,” The man in tights nodded._ _

__“Taylor!” The woman turned to see Cash walking up behind them with Young at his side. “We’ve got another problem.”_ _

__Young moved forward. “I need to get back to the Mansion. All my research notes are there. We can’t risk Joker getting his hands on them.”_ _

__“It’s not safe, Doctor,” Batman shook his head. “The island is a warzone. You won’t stand a chance.”_ _

__“It’s my life’s work. You really don’t have the authority to-”_ _

__“Listen here, lady,” Taylor poked the Doctor in the chest. “All B-man’s doing here is trying to keep you safe. If you wanna run off through the island just to get yourself caught again like some little pest then be my guest, but don’t count on us coming by to save your ass again.”_ _

__“I’ll get her there,” Cash decided to say before the other woman could reply. He was already familiar with Taylor’s attitude so he didn’t want unnecessary fighting to break out because of it. “If you ask me, it’s about time for a little payback!”_ _

__“I don’t like it-” Batman was cut off by a weird noise behind them. He turned. “Who called the elevator!?”_ _

__“Wasn’t us,” the redhead answered. “It’s coming from the lower floor!”_ _

__“Cash, take Dr. Young! Get her notes and then find somewhere safe to hole up. Everyone else, go to the observation Room. Barricade yourselves in!” He exchanged a look with the detective beside him before he shot off towards one of the gargoyles on the ceiling._ _

Taylor slid behind one of the overturned desks and got ready to fire her gun at the sound of the inmates voices. There were only three of them so there really wasn’t much to worry about. After they fell, both of them looked at the only path they had left to take. “You sure getting on the elevator will be a good idea?” She asked him. 

“There’s nowhere else for us to go,” Batman told her, getting aboard. Taylor followed after him, trying to ignore the feeling in the pit of her stomach as the elevator began to lower.

_“Too easy!”_

Taylor froze and turned to see Joker on a screen again. “Son of a bitch!” She whacked Batman in the arm. “I told you!”

 _“Think about it. I’ve got you trapped in a little metal box. Hanging precariously over a deadly drop. What say I just blow the emergency brakes and drop you like a sack of puppies? Say good night, Bats.”_ He paused for a moment before throwing his arms back. _“Boom! Only kidding.”_ He laughed as the elevator began to lower. _“Got a few more surprises in store for you. Prepare to face your fears. All of them!”_

“Asshole,” Taylor sniffed, rubbing at her temples.

It was then that she caught a strange smell. She didn’t know what it was but it was really weird. She glanced at Batman and saw that he was just staring at the door, waiting. Maybe she was imagining it…


	7. Scarecrow

“Please, Dr. Crane, don’t do this!” A voice cried as the elevator opened.

“There is no Crane…” A crazy voice chuckled.

“They’re all over me!” 

“Only Scarecrow!”

Taylor hurried forward to the glass the light was flashing behind and looked inside. Men were inside, clawing at their skin like something was crawling all over them. She gave a scream and jumped back when a man slammed against the window, crying for someone to let him out. Luckily, Batman was behind her and it was a firm thing to bounce back into. The flashing lights gave off a large shadow of a man walking across it, almost like a thing from nightmares.

Batman hurried to the hall but bars were blocking his path.

 _“Oh, looks like the good Doctor started early.”_ Joker laughed. _“Your appointments aren’t for hours. I’m sure you’ll be buzzed through when he’s ready. Tell me, Bats. What are you really scared of? Or how about your friend, there?”_

Dr. Jonathan Crane. Taylor knew all about this one. He and Dr. Victor Fries AKA Mr. Freeze were, I guess you could say, her favorites of the Batman enemies. Mr. Freeze was a brilliant cryogenicist before a horrid accident turned him into the blue man that he is today. The man tried everything that he could think of to try and find a way to heal his wife of her fatal degenerative disease. To have a man that cared that much for you, Taylor would love that. She didn’t see Mr. Freeze as a bad man. He attacked the banks for money to fund more time to research his wife’s disease. It was during one of his robberies that Taylor had first laid eyes on the blue man and, I guess you could say, developed a little crush on him. She would never admit that aloud, she just prayed that she didn’t run into him with journeying through the Asylum. 

Dr. Crane was a different story though. Crane, now an ex-psychiatrist, was the drug man. He could use the drugs and psychological tactics to use the fears and phobias of his enemies. He never did anything for money, only for ‘research’ about the fear on humans. Taylor never believed that he had truly been able to do that but after witnessing this…she prayed that he never got ahold of her.

“Taylor,” Batman’s voice dragged the woman away from the window. “Let’s go.” She nodded in silence and followed the man in tights.

Blasting a hole in the wall, the two of them hurried through the new passage to the Lower Corridors just in time to see a man clutching to the vent at the top of the room.

“Boss!” Taylor cried, realizing who the man was. 

“Please, help me, Taylor!” He gasped before being yanked down the passage.

“Shit. Batman, we have to-” Taylor had turned back to him but Batman wasn’t there anymore. Where in the hell did he go? And why would he run off like that, leaving her there on her own? Turning again, she found another vent space opened and put two and two together. “Fine, don’t wait on me.” She muttered under her breath as she crawled through it before pushing to her feet again. Looking around the hall she was now in, Gordon was nowhere in sight anymore. Neither was Batman. Instead, she found someone else.

“Dylan!” She cried.

The tall man turned in time to smile at his sister as she hugged him. “There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

“You have?” She pulled back. “How did you know I was here?”

“Are you kidding? The Joker’s loud mouth reverberates around their entire damn place. What other woman in Gotham would be dumb enough to run around with Batman in the Asylum in the middle of the night? No one but my sister, that’s who.”

Taylor smiled happily, glad that her brother was all right. “Well look at that. I come here to try and find you and you’re doing the same thing for me. How did you get away from Pamela?”

“Poison Ivy?” Dylan laughed. “I’m a man. How do you think I got away?”

“Tucked your tail between your legs and ran.”

“You damn right.”

Taylor laughed at her brother, relief flowing through her veins now that she knew he was safe. Everything was going to be all right now. She could leave…but what about Batman? She couldn’t just leave the man in tights to fight all these crazed lunatics on his own! What kind of cop would that make her?

“Come on, Dylan,” She moved down the hall. “We have to find Batman.”

“Ah, yes, the Dark Knight. How fun has it been traveling around with that tight-wearing-freak?”

“Don’t call him that.” Taylor told him, whacking his arm with the back of her hand. “Only I can make fun of his outfit.”

“Whatever.” The man moved on ahead of her, making a comment on where Batman might be with Taylor’s phone went off, making her stop.

 _I've been fading away._  
_I've been waiting on the call to reach my veins,_  
_Ready or not._  
_No attention to waste,_  
_Every sorrow of the soul will read my name,_  
_When I cease to exist._

“What the…” She looked at her brother in confusion as he walked down the hall. This was his ringtone, and his alone. What was going on? Why was this song playing? Dylan was right there, three feet ahead of her and his phone was nowhere to be seen. Had he lost it? “Dylan,” She called up to him. “Where’s your phone?”

The man turned with a smile, holding the black and blue object in his left hand and wiggled it. “Right here; why? Something wrong with yours?”

“No,” She shook her head as she shoved her phone back in her pants. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Come on, this way.” Dylan walked into a set of double doors as Taylor read the sign beside them. “The Morgue? Really? What would Batman be doing here?” She shook her head again before following her brother into the room. She didn’t find herself in the morgue though. She froze. It was, instead, a hall of mirrors. “Oh, hell no!” She turned to walk back out but the doors were gone, replaced by another mirror that loomed over her. Staring back at the tall figure of herself, Taylor took a step back. With each step, voices joined in. Her voice.

 _“Mommy! Daddy! Dylan’s drawing on the wall again!”_  
_“Daddy, where’s mommy? When’s mommy coming home?”_  
_“Dad, I’m off for school. I’ll be back this afternoon.”_  
_“Shut up, Dylan! I don’t like him! I swear if you say a word-”_  
_“Dad, are you all right?”_  
_“Dad’s…Dad’s lost all feeling below his ribcage. Dylan, he can’t move on his own. It was a car crash. You…you need to come home. You can hang out with Nick and Chris another time.”_  
_“You…you’re leaving!? The damn Marines? I can’t do this on my own, Dylan! I need you to help me! I can’t go through the Academy and care for Dad at the same time!”_  
_“Karate, huh? Sounds interesting. Thanks, Uncle Porter. Yeah, your brother…dad’s okay. He’s sleeping now. Sure. I’ll bring him over tomorrow.”_

“No,” Taylor clapped her hands over her ears and ran down the endless hall of mirrors, trying to ignore the next scenes but she was stopped by a man in a wheelchair. Her hands dropped to her sides as she stared at him. “Dad…”

The elderly man had short grey hair and matching eyes as she sat there, staring at his daughter from the wheelchair. “What are you doing here?” His voice was raspy. “Come to leave me behind…again?”

Taylor moved forward and knelt at her father’s feet. “I didn’t leave you behind, dad! I didn’t! You were taken from me! It’s not my fault!”

“It’s all your fault!”

Her father’s scream made her pull back, hanging her head, fighting back tears. “Yeah…” She slowly began. “It’s…it’s all my fault…”

_“Keys, keys, where did I put my keys?” Taylor, age 24, mumbled to herself as she dug through her purse. She had just come from Karate practice at her uncle’s dojo. Her father was inside, waiting on her to come back and give him a bath. For six years she had been taking care of her father while Dylan was off in the Marines. She had grown used to it._  
_The house was dark. Darker than it should have been. She knew right off that something was wrong, but what? Turning the light on, she found glass and the mirror in the hall, shattered. Instantly, her bags dropped to her feet and she took off down the hall to her father’s room. She froze in the door at the sight of the elderly man with his throat slashed._  
_“No!” She went to run forward, for the phone on the dresser, when something of cold steel was placed against her throat from behind._  
_“There she is,” A deep voice chuckled. “I’ve been waiting all night for you, princess.” He then tsked. “Poor little daddy. You’re welcome. Finally free from being daddy’s little pet. Now you can be all mine…”_

Taylor shivered, pulling herself from her memories. 

“You killed that man,” Her father’s voice sounded again. “You killed him before he could rape you, but you couldn’t get home fast enough to save me? You couldn’t stay home just one night to save me? You could have killed him before he killed me!”

 _“I…I don’t like killing people,”_ Taylor heard her soft voice spread through the mirrors. That was when she was being questioned by Gordon for killing that man in their home later that night. She was just a cop, then; barely in the program. _“I really don’t but sometimes…you just have to. To keep others from being hurt. To keep him from doing to others what he did to dad and…and what he tried to do to me…”_

“Poor little flower,” Scarecrow chuckled. “Not strong enough to move past your past?” He pushed himself up from the wheelchair, staring down at the detective with an evil glare. “Not strong enough to admit that you liked it. Liked the feeling of killing the crazed rapist. That’s why you hate Batman so much. He leaves people like me to break free and just cause more pain to the people of Gotham. Admit it. If you had a choice you would just kill all of us, wouldn’t you?”

“Shut up.” Taylor pushed herself to her feet, glaring at the masked man that continued to laugh and tease her. 

“Admit it, Detective. You’re just as much as a monster than the rest of us!”

“I said shut up!” She pulled her fist back and slammed it into Scarecrow’s face. The man flew back into the mirror, shattering it and the room around her. Taylor found herself against the wall in the morgue, The Dark Knight knelt before her, shaking her.

“Taylor,” Batman’s grip on her shoulders was tight as he gave her another shake. “Taylor!”

“Don’t wrench my head off,” She growled, whacking his hands off of her. “I’m still alive.” She took a moment to calm herself. Her hands were still shaking but slowly they stopped as he wiped away the remnants of what were tears from her cheeks and eyes. 

If Batman saw them, he didn’t say anything, and for that she was grateful.

She glanced around and found out that she was still in the morgue. “I take it that that was Dr. Crane’s special formula?”

The Dark Knight nodded. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She pushed herself to her feet. She hated reliving that…that damn moment in time! She hated it every time. Dr. Crane was going to pay for that! He could count on it.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” 

Taylor turned with a glare before sighing. “Yeah. Come on,” She firmed her voice, pushing out of the morgue. “Let’s get back on track. They won’t keep Gordon alive forever.”

Green arrows led them around the corner to a door with another Joker face drawn on it and as Joker made a comment about going crazy is easy after a while. Three men then decided to burst in with an attack. Taylor wasn’t in the mood to play anymore and stomped the life out of them before continuing down the hall. 

“I swear, the next person that I see I am going to beat the hell out of!”


	8. I hate Doctors

Taylor glared up at the screen as the Joker told them that Harley was under orders to kill Gordon if she or any of the others in the room saw her or Batman. 

This whole game was starting to piss her off now that her past events had been brought back up to her. She was keeping to her word of beating the hell out of the next person she saw and she had her fingers crossed, hoping that it was going to end up being Harley. She couldn’t wait for that but it also annoyed her to death. Harley couldn’t do anything; she was protected by Joker and his men so her tactics and fighting was just a bunch of bologna; at least to this detective.

“Any ideas, Batman?” Taylor asked the man in leather beside her.

“Stay here.”

“Stay here?” She growled. “You keep-”

“It will be easier for just one of us to slip through unseen. Just trust me.” The Dark Knight told her. He could still feel her anger from the events with Scarecrow and now was not the time to send her into a battle like this.

“Fine.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. She closed her eyes until she was sure the man in tights was gone before giving a sigh.

 _“Listen up, boys,”_ Joker’s voice reached her. _“The Commissioner is just dying for one of you to spot the Bat Freak and his new sidekick. When you do, Harley offs the old man. I’ve got a shiny prize for the one who sees either of them first.”_

Harley began to go off about her and Joker getting married and then about Gordon dying his gray hair. Finally not able to take it anymore, Taylor slipped into the vent and followed after Batman. She carefully moved around the room, coming across a few bodies here and there as she set her eyes on the middle room that Harley’s voice was coming from.

Careful to slip through the man or two that was still walking around, Taylor made sure that Batman couldn’t see her either, she climbed the steel stairs in silence before catching sight of the door. She could hear Harley’s voice behind it, Gordon’s as well, but frowned. If she were to burst into there, then Gordon could be in trouble. Instead, her gaze lifted to the ceiling. If she could climb on something, like the crate to the side, there might be a vent or opening for her to get in through in silence before taking Harley down. Following the idea, the ceiling was glass, giving the detective the chance to peer down at Harley that stood before Gordon as he was tied to a chair with a gun pointed at him.

Taylor glared down through the glass moments before smashing it with the butt of her gun and dropping down onto the blonde idiot beneath, knocking her own gun from her hands and taking it for herself.

“Damn that felt good!” Taylor grinned with that hard look still on her face. “I’ve been waiting to do that for a long time!”

“Taylor!” Gordon sounded relieved.

“You all right, boss?” the Detective demanded, hurrying over to free the elder man.

“As good as can be, I suppose. You had me worried there for a moment or two. I’m glad you’re alright.” The elder man replied.

“You shouldn’t be worried about me, boss. I can take care of myself.”

“Yeah, I suppose that you can.” He rubbed his wrists and then glanced over the woman’s shoulder. “You took longer than I thought.” Gordon told the Dark Knight.

“He’s out of control.” Batman referred to Joker as Taylor turned sideways to look between the two men. “He’s trying to prove something. I’m not sure I can stop him this time.”

“Are you serious?” Taylor asked him with a frown. “It’s that bad?”

Gordon shook his head. “You’ll do it, both of you will. Batman, listen. You too, Taylor. We’re not alone. He’s got something else down there. I don’t know what it is.”

 _“What a blabbermouth. Spoiling the surprise.”_ Joker greeted them on the screen again.

“Be quiet!” Batman growled.

_“Oh. Am I getting to you? Am I?”_

“No, not really,” Taylor replied. “But your girlfriend sure did.” She shoved a thumb over her shoulder at the blonde woman still lying on the ground.

The white-faced man stared between the two women for a moment before giving a loud laugh. _“I guess having a female partner is a good idea! After all, Batman here doesn’t seem to like hitting women!”_ He gave another laugh. _“You’re going to love this next bit.”_ Joker told them as Batman led the three of them into the conjoining room with all the screens and computers. 

Taylor glanced around as Gordon grabbed the computer. There was fog all over the place and she stepped forward into the room further, squinting. 

“It wants Dr. Young’s log-in.” Gordon told them.

“Never mind that,” Batman’s voice was firm and grabbed both the others attention. “Both of you, get behind me. Now!”

Taylor ignored him and squinted her eyes a bit more as the fog faded down. She gasped, taking a step back. “Oh my god…” She looked at the man in black as he was hanging in the air by red tubs that seemed to be sucking something out of him. It made her feel sick.

“Bane.” Batman didn’t seem to be too happy either.

“I thought he broke out of Blackgate!” Gordon cried.

“Cut me down…” Bane gasped from behind his mask. Taylor’s heart cried.

“Who did this to you?” Batman asked.

“Who the hell do you think?” Taylor growled, glaring at the man behind her. Her mind was working the moment that Gordon told her that the computer wanted Young’s log in. Something told her that Joker had a part in it as well. “I hate Doctors.”

“Dr. Young.” Bane gasped. As he continued it made Taylor feel even worse. “The ‘bruja’. She drained the Venom from my blood. Must…stop…her…”

 _“Sorry, Has-Bane. The good Doctor won’t be a problem much longer.”_ Joker told them. _“How do you like my puppet? What say we cut him down?”_ He lifted something in his hand and pressed it. An alarm went off as red lights turned on.

“Shit,” Taylor took a step back from Bane as a green liquid began to pump through the tubes and into his body. He cried as his body pumped up. If this had been any other situation, the Detective might have stood there and admired the muscles but she lived in Gotham and knew what this man was capable of.

It seemed God hated her. The one man in Gotham that she wanted to never meet and here he was, getting juiced up and, undoubtedly, enraged. She felt all color drain from her face and her skin had gone cold. 

“Gordon, Taylor, run!” Batman told them as they all backed up.

“What about you?” Taylor demanded.

Batman took in her appearance and, had it not been a dire situation, he would have given her a smile. She was terrified but still more worried about others than herself. It was...admirable.

“I’m right behind you!” He told her. 

Gordon grabbed his employee and dragged her out behind him and far enough to watch as Batman dodged the punches that Bane swung now that he was free again and had the Venom back in his veins.

“Oh god,” She winced, watching as Bane threw Batman through the wall and into the Boiler Room. “What to do, what to do.” She racked her mind for an idea to help the man in tights. How she wasn’t wetting herself or crying was amazing.

“There isn’t going to be anything that you can do, Taylor.” Gordon told her. “Not this time.”

“There’s always something that I can do,” She replied, still thinking. “I know,” Taylor then told herself. “The tubes! I have to detach the Venom tubes!” She stared down at Bane, watching as he threw a large chunk of the wall at Batman as he barely dodged it. “Wish me luck.” She told Gordon with a small, worried smile before jumping down to join Batman. 

_If this damn bastard doesn’t kill me, I’m asking for a raise!_

She had timed it right and ended up landing right on Bane’s back. This man was a freakin’ monster with his size! She didn’t know if she was going to be able to do this or even stay alive if Bane got a hold of her but she had to do something to help Batman! As she grabbed the tubes that were connected to Bane’s body she pulled as hard as she could, also hanging onto it so that Bane couldn’t throw her off during the process. 

Bane mustn’t have noticed Taylor until the first tube was detached and it seemed to seriously piss him off. His attention was now occupied by the woman on his back as Batman was busy dealing with the goons that decided to jump down and help the large man. The good thing about Bane in this form was that he couldn’t reach over his shoulders to reach for the woman that was hanging on for her life. She dodged what the man tried to hit her with, silently praying that she wasn’t going to get hurt. She pulled the second tube out and a little relief hit her; until she was rammed into a wall. She had never heard the sound that ripped from her throat before and the pain was killing her, making her lose her grip and fall off of Bane’s back when he backed away. She hoped to god that she wasn’t hurt too badly to where she couldn’t walk anymore. Instant fear of being stuck in a wheelchair like her father, after seeing the struggle of it when she took care of him, and then Barbara, hit her. She wanted anything, anything but that.

She lost track of what happened next as she struggled, pushing herself into a stand but she knew that Batman had taken over Bane, or else she wouldn’t be safe, if you could call it that, at the moment.

“Taylor!” Batman grabbed the woman and yanked her out of the way as the ceiling began to fall on Bane. Gripping onto her, he used his Batclaw and yanked themselves out of harm’s way. “Are you all right?” Pausing for a moment, she stretched her back to make sure she was okay. It was sore and it was nothing less than what she expected after that damn fight. She was surprised that she could still even move. “Taylor?”

She finally nodded, breathing hard as she now tried to settle her heart down. “Yeah, you?”

“Yes.” He glanced above them towards the ladder that led up. It had to lead outside and Batman was taking that guess and leading the way up into fresh air.

Pulling herself out of the manhole, Taylor gave a wince as her left arm throbbed this time instead of her back. It wasn’t broken but she was sure that it wasn’t just bruised, either. Even Batman grabbed his left arm, showing that she wasn’t the only one lying about being hurt.

“You guys ok?”

Taylor turned to her boss as Batman typed something into his arm. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She lied again.

“Where’s Quinn?” Batman asked.

“Gone! Most have gotten loose while Bane was throwing you around.” Gordon answered him as Taylor gave out a curse.

“We need to get you off the island.” Batman told the Commissioner. 

“I’m not a rookie. I can handle myself; especially if Carmicheal here can.”

“Yeah, there’s a difference between us though, boss.” Taylor grinned. “I’m not in my sixty-ahhh!” Her sentence changed to a cry as Bane burst out of the wall beside them, knocking all three of them off their feet. He ran for Batman with a roar. Taylor was pushing herself to her feet as Bane cried out-

“I will break you, Batman. Then the ‘bruja’!”

“No, Bane.” Batman shook his head. “This time I break you.”

At the sound behind them, Taylor turned and watched as the Batmobile zoomed forward, running onto the huge man after Batman and kicked himself away from Bane. The car rammed into him, driving Bane into the water.

“Damn,” the woman shook her head. “Where are you going to get another one of those?”

Batman gave her a small smirk that she didn’t expect to see on his face after the events that they just endured. “That’s a secret.” Gordon, who had been silent till now, cleared his throat. Taylor scratched the side of her nose with a small blush as Batman frowned again. “Jim, get back to the mainland.” He told the Commissioner as the trio moved towards a boat that was waiting on them at the docks with a few more guards. “It’s too dangerous here.”

“I don’t like leaving either of you here.” Gordon replied.

“Taylor’s going with you.” The man in tights told him.

“What?” The woman growled.

“This is getting serious and even more dangerous. You have to get out of here.”

Taylor frowned in anger. “I came here to get my brother and I’m not leaving until I do just that. Besides, you’re not going to be able to do this all on your own! This is just the same conversation over and over, Batman. I’m not leaving until all of this is over and that’s final!”

Batman glared at her for a moment. “I let you tag along this far but enough is enough. You could seriously get hurt and-”

“Like you couldn’t? Face it, Batman, you need help against all these people and whether you like it or not, I’m staying!”

The two of them just glared at the other for a moment until Gordon sighed. “Batman, don’t you know that you can never win an argument against a woman?”

The man in tights gave a sigh himself before turning away, leading the path to the boat where a few guards stood, getting ready to leave the island. “The radio claims he’s planted bombs all over Gotham. Gotham will panic, you’re needed there.”

“Bane called Dr. Young ‘bruja’.” Gordon commented after a moment. “What does that mean?”

“That’s Spanish, boss.” Taylor told him with a grin. “For Bitch with a capital ‘W’.”

“I thought that saying went the other way around,” Gordon commented as she and Batman began to walk away.

“It does,” she told him with a small smile before giving a wave to her boss. Her smile then turned to a frown. “Some birthday present to me,” Taylor grunted, rolling her shoulder. She winced a bit but kept her gasp a secret from Batman as he talked to Oracle. “So, where are we going?” Taylor asked the man beside her.

Batman was finished talking now and glanced at the woman behind him. “The Batcave.”

…

“WHAT!?”


	9. The Batcave

The Batcave. 

God, if anyone in Gotham, ever found out that she had seen the Batcave, been inside it, she would be famous! 

Taylor’s mind was beginning to have images sprout up. Tiny bats hanging from the cave ceiling. A small pool of water on the floor for the Batman’s baths and food. A bed strapped to the ceiling so he could sleep with his winged-rat brethren during the day. 

Snorting at the thought of that, Taylor stayed silent as she followed the man in tights ahead of her through the Asylum grounds. They beat up some of the enemies in the way but nothing too serious. They arrived at the Intensive Treatment again before Batman pulled out his Grapple again and took them to the roof. 

_“What’s the deal with Dead Man’s Point? It’s been a favorite suicide location on Arkham Island for over 100 years.”_ Oracle decided to join them again.

“Yeah. I know. I once saved an unfortunate inmate from leaping off into the rocks below.” Batman answered her. “I found a cave entrance and over the years have moved a number of supplies here. It’s a regular home away from home.”

“Yeah, there’s nothing like having a cave that you call home beneath an island full of Psychos.” Taylor frowned. “I just pray that I don’t find cameras of the Inmates cells down there.”

Batman fought a smirk as he continued to lead the way, hoping that the detective behind him didn’t remember where this all was. He thought about leaving her behind or knocking her out but decided that it would have been just too much trouble. 

Moving through the caves, Batman paused for a moment when they came to a pile of skulls in the center of a dark area. Taylor raised a brow and watched as he jumped up a small edge and moved towards the hole in the wall that showed it was raining again outside. She followed him and frowned as she looked around. There was nothing.

Placing her hands on her hips she looked at the man in tights. “So, where’s this cave of yours?”

The Dark Knight turned to her before stepping closer to her. “Grab onto me.”

She took a step back, completely happy that it was too dark to see how red her face had become. “What?”

“You won’t be able to get there without my cape so either you grab onto me and hold on or you go back the way we came and wait for me.”

Taylor clenched her teeth. _~Asshole~_ She growled to herself before wrapping an arm around the man’s neck. 

She tried to keep as much space between the two of them but Batman pulled her right up against him before running and jumping off the cliff. She clung to him, trying to ignore everything as she felt the wind fly past her. To keep her mind clear, she tried to think about anything else but this…and her thoughts landed on the man she was holding on to. 

His skin was hot. Very hot. As she pressed herself against it she felt a river of relief and a sense of protection pass through her. Again the thoughts of those tight, firm muscles beneath her came to her mind, sending such dirty thoughts that she shouldn’t be thinking about at a time like this. But still, it was hard to resist imagining this man on top of her, attacking her with his mouth as they moved beneath the sheets. 

Damn. Too bad she didn’t know what he truly looked like.

“You all right?”

Realizing that her feet were on ground again, Taylor pulled away from the man and looked around the area, trying to erase those naughty thoughts from her mind. She frowned. It was just a cave. 

“This is it?”

Batman stared at her with a frown for a moment before walking forward. Watching as he stood in front of the wall for a moment, the detective blushed as what was happening hit her.

_“Identity confirmed. Disabling countermeasures. Security deactivated.”_

Of course he would hide all his stuff! Taylor felt like a real idiot now as she moved after the man in tights into his Batcave.

“Holy crap.” She looked at the stuff inside. A plane. A boat. A huge-ass computer system! “If this is just the small version,” She said breathlessly. “Then I can’t wait to find out what’s in the main Cave.”

Batman gave her a glance before leading the way to the computer system. She easily made it across the gap on her own, still impressed with everything here. Batman sat down before it and Taylor leaned on the back of it as Oracle joined them again.

_“Dr. Young was heading up a project. It was big, lots of external funding. Here are the last notes she filed. I can’t make sense of it. What does it mean?”_

“It’s not that hard to figure out after seeing what she did to our Spanish friend,” Taylor scowled as she gazed over the screen. “Experiments.”

“You may be right,” Batman nodded. “And on the Arkham patients. This new chemical only barely resembles the original Venom compound. There are a number of changes that appear to amplify the strength of the drug. Multiple references to a Titan formula. Even a small amount could trigger a Venom-like transformation in the host, eliminating the need for the storage tank Bane requires.” Batman rubbed his temples.

“But the notes aren’t complete,” Taylor pointed out. “It seems that the formula is missing. That must be what Joker was trying to get from Dr. Young, don’t you think? That’s what he needs her for.” Her mind went back to that large creature that Batman had fought towards the beginning of the night. “If he doesn’t have the formula then his creations won’t be complete. With Dr. Young’s secret, he could make an army of Banes!” She shuddered at the thought.

_“My God! Is Joker crazy enough to do that? What am I saying? You’ve got to stop him!”_

Taylor sighed. “We’re trying.” 

She watched as Batman moved to a crate and pulled out some new equipment. She took another glance at the notes again and scowled. Stupid Doctors. Haven’t they played Final Fantasy 7 or Resident Evil or Doom before? Don’t they know what happens when they do experiments to try and become powerful or take control? Scientists were idiots, in her opinion, sticking their noises in a place that it should be.

“We’re going after her,” Batman referred to Dr. Young. “She was heading to the Mansion with Cash. I’m going up top via the catacombs.”

“The sewers?” Taylor frowned, stretching her back and closing her eyes. She was getting deadly tired. “I am so taking a bath when we get out of here safely.

Batman glanced off to the side as naughty thoughts of his own came to his mind. After all, it’s not every day that you can find a woman that’s stubborn enough to put up with running around the Arkham Asylum with him. It made him wonder just what else she was stubborn enough to deal with. 

“Here,” Taylor turned to the Dark Knight to see him holding out a belt to her. Not a normal belt but one of his. A Utility belt. “So I don’t have to carry you everywhere when the time calls for it.”

She flushed, a small feeling of disappointment passing through her as she grabbed the belt. No more touching that body? Too bad. 

“All right!” She picked up her enthusiasm. “Just what I’ve always wanted!”

“Now, you have to be mature with these.” Batman told her as she hooked it around her waist.

Her smile melted angrily. “What do you think I am, a ki-” Her voice stopped at the sight of the teasing smile on the man’s face. He was messing with her. “Asshole,” She grinned back as he moved past her to lead the way through the sewers. He gave off a chuckle and she smiled wider. When have you ever heard the Bat laugh?

Taylor had to admit, she did not like the thought of not having to hold onto Batman anymore to travel. His body was nice to hang on to. And at the same time she was happy that she got her own tools to use. She felt helpless sometimes when she had to count on him to do a bunch of things. Well, not anymore! She was going to pick up pace double time now!

“Sorry boss. Took a little longer to find him than you figured it would.” At the voice, Batman came to a halt at the end of the vent that they were now traveling through. They were at the very edge of the sewer lines now beneath the Mansion. They had run into a group of a view of Joker’s men.

 _“Oh, I’m sorry.”_ Joker growled. _“I’ll try and be more precise next time I’m planning an island takeover!”_

“Hey, I didn’t mean-”

 _“Criticism I can take. I mean, I’m not perfect!”_ Joker paused for a moment. _“Well, come to think of it, I’m pretty close to perfect, aren’t I? Where was I? Oh yes,”_ Taylor hid a snicker. You had to admit, there was just something about this crazy guy. _“Criticism from a worm like you, a worm who is only crawling around free because I arranged to open his cell is something I will not tolerate. I-”_

Taylor didn’t get to hear what was said next as they took down the group of men.

 _“I’ve been digging deeper into Dr. Young.”_ Oracle began. _“According to her bank records, there have been multiple payments, starting last April until two months ago. Then nothing. The payments came from a company owned by a Mister Jack White.”_

“One of Joker’s oldest aliases,” Batman informed the two women. “So, Joker pays Dr. Young to create his army and then all of a sudden he stops. Doesn’t make any sense.”

“When did any of this make sense?” Taylor asked him and she continued to move down the hall. Right down the hall was a door leading to the Main Sewer Junction. Taylor took in the sight of all the broken pillars and frowned, shaking her head. “Why does this have to be so hard!” She stomped her foot before moving forward, following Batman’s moves to get to the door they needed.

 _“Hey! This is weird.”_ Oracle decided to return. _“The payments to Dr. Young’s account didn’t stop exactly, they were declined. Dr. Young put a block on her account.”_

“Sounds like someone got cold feet.” Taylor hissed, slipping across a wall, getting ready to jump to another. They had found the area wasn’t safe to use the grappling hook and would have to climb ‘the old fashioned way’.

“She tried to block the payment,” Batman sighed. “Joker doesn’t like it when his partners try to back out.”

_“So he decided to get himself back to Arkham, find his formula, and create the army himself!”_

“It seems that way,” Taylor agreed as Batman nodded. “Anything else?”

_“Yes. I hacked into her email account. Two mails stand out. The first is a resignation letter dated last week. Sounds like she was trying to get away.”_

“And the second?” Batman asked, grabbing Taylor’s hand before leading the way across the large gap.

_“A message from Joker, well, Jack White. It’s a long thread. She’s begging to stop the experiment. Says it’s too dangerous. He’s not listening. Let’s see, random threats to her family, a couple of bad jokes…a picture of a dead baby and a threat!”_

“What?” Taylor growled, glaring at Batman as he was the only one there.

“Go on.” The man in tights told her.

_“He says, ‘I’m coming for you! I want what I paid for!’ And then another joke about wheelchairs, lovely…And a drawing of some kind of donkey.”_

At the comment about wheelchairs, Taylor’s head fell and Batman raised a brow. What was that about? “No mystery why she’s so scared.” He commented. “I’m coming up to the surface. We’ll find her.”

Batman knew where to go and it was no trouble getting out into the surface to the North. The breath of fresh air seemed to lighten Taylor’s mood again until she looked at the mansion. She wanted to find Dylan soon. They had been all over the island in the last few hours but still no sign of him, next to what Scarecrow tried to pull on her. Dylan had last been seen with Poison Ivy so that was…somewhere around plants, right? Where would that be, exactly? She would have to ask Cash when they caught up to him and Dr. Young in the mansion. If they found them…


	10. Arkham Mansion

“Now that we’re inside, why don’t you tell me our plan?”

“I don’t have a plan.” Batman answered her.

“What do you mean you don’t have a plan?”

“We’re going to find Cash and Dr. Young. We’ll go from there when we find them.”

Grumbling to herself for a moment, Taylor glanced around the mansion that they had just crawled into. It was some kind of storage room with boxes and crates all over it. Leading the way outside, Batman signaled Taylor to be quiet as more voices of the Joker’s buddies reached them from below.

“So what are you gonna do when we’re finally out of here?”

“I’ve got a cousin in Metropolis who needs some heavies for his security company. You know, knocking on doors, collecting money.”

“Breaking some legs if they don’t pay.”

“Good times. You want in? I could put in a good word.”

“Sounds great. I’m up for that.”

Taylor gave off a small smile. She didn’t like thinking about them breaking legs over money but at least the men were trying to get away from the crap that landed them in the Asylum. A good change of events could give them a new life to start up.

While Batman glided down and took care of the goons below, Taylor decided that now was the time to try out her utility belt. But what should she use first? There were Batarangs, the Grapnel gun and a few other things but it looked like the Grapnel gun would work the best.

The Security Gates blocked off the path so they had to move through another vent that was above the locked doors. Taylor let Batman go first since he had to detonate a wall to get through. They found another Riddler Trophy(which Taylor tossed at the Bat again) and found themselves in the Main Hall now.

“Wow, they really want those papers, don’t they?” Taylor asked, looking down at all the men ripping through files.

_“Joker here with a little update for you all. First the good news. We have Dr. Young. Bad news is she’s not talking. She’s hidden a document somewhere in the mansion. I want it found! I’ve got a plan or six to loosen her tongue, but in the meantime, search every kook and granny. There’s a prize for whoever finds them.”_

“We need to find those notes before Joker does.” Batman commented.

“Then let’s get a move on, shall we?” 

Staying above, Taylor pulled out her rifle again; taking her previous moves and shooting out legs and arms as her partner glided down to them and whooped ass. Carefully following him down, Taylor searched through the files herself but didn’t find what they were looking for. “Where could she have put them?”

“I don’t know but if we can fund her again then maybe she’ll tell us.” Batman replied.

“Good point,” The woman nodded, stretching her back again. God, she was getting tired. It was almost 2; she had been here since 9. How in the hell did Batman put up with this all day every day?

They moved through the Mansion quietly, searching and finding nothing, and soon found themselves in the West Wing. 

“Is that a collar on his neck?” Taylor asked, poking the metal object that was making a strange noise on the goon’s neck after Batman had knocked him out.

“What’s that collar do? Why’s it making that noise?” The Dark Knight asked the two security guards they had just saved.

“It’s the suicide collar,” One of them answered. “But it sounds weird.”

“Suicide collar?” Taylor raised a brow.

“They’ve got some other name, but, well, we just use them to monitor the patients’ heartbeats. If it drops too low, the alarm goes off and a crash team rushes in.”

 _“And so does my crew if you trigger one.”_ Joker decided to join them again on a screen to the right. _“How do you like them apples, Bats? Standing around in the…hmm, let’s see, ah, the west wing. They’d be there now if they weren’t knocking a little sense into Cash. I’ll tell you what. I won’t spoil the surprise and let them know you’re coming.”_

Taylor shook her head. “You would think he would let them know. That’s why he keeps getting beaten.”

The next room was the Arkham Records Room and it seemed to be the greatest challenge in this mansion yet with those stupid Suicide collars on the goons. They were beating the hell out of Cash and a few other hostages.

“Tell us where the bitch went.”

“Tell us or we’ll cut off your other hand.”

“Do what you want. I’m not talking.” Cash spat.

“Sure you will. Harley Quinn is on her way up here soon. She knows ways to loosen your tongue!”

“And you don’t wanna find out how she does it!”

“She can do her worst! I ain’t talkin’. Period!”

 _“Oh, if you guys weren’t so stupid I’d recommend picking up a book or two.”_ Joker growled. _“Still, I suppose I don’t pay you for smarts, do I? I pay you to stop the Bat and his girlfriend! So don’t disappoint me!”_

 _~Girlfriend?~_ Taylor asked herself as Batman moved into position on one of the Gargoyles and she took aim with her rifle. _~Now, why does that make me feel funny? Sure, he’s a…nice looking guy but-all right, he’s got a sexy bod that I like touching but every woman would like that. There’s no way in hell that I have a thing for the weirdo who runs around in tights dressed like a bat. No way!~_

There were only a few idiots to beat up this time so there was really no problem here this time.

“Cash, you all right?” Taylor asked, cutting him and the other man free.

“Yeah,” He answered with a nod. “Thanks.”

“Where did Dr. Young go?” Batman cut right to the chase.

“I told her to run. These guys came in looking for her. I told her to go to her office and hide.”

“Does she keep her records there?” Taylor asked.

“I guess,” Cash shrugged. “She was pretty desperate to get in there! Her office is over there” He shoved his thumb over his shoulder.

“How long ago was this?” Batman continued with the questions. “We need to find her notes before Joker gets his hands on them.”

“20 minutes? Maybe more. What’s so important about the notes?”

“You wouldn’t believe us even if we told you,” Taylor sighed. “Either that or it would really piss you off.”

“Joker wants them,” Batman gave Taylor a look as he cut Cash off before he could ask more. “That makes them important. Stay here! We’ll go find her.”

“Not a problem.” Cash nodded. “I’ll try the radio. See if anyone else is around,” he looked at the woman. “I’ll try and see if I can reach Dylan.”

The woman nodded. “I’d appreciate it.”

Up the stairs, they began to move through the North Corridor, Joker following them on the radio.

_“Going after the notes yourself, eh Bats? Good luck. I’ve got a crew working over the Doctor as I speak. They’ll squeeze the formula out of her soon enough. Not to mention the army of clowns ripping this place apart. One way or another, the formula will be mine. Why don’t you just give up? Go on, roll over and die for once. Be your best friend!”_

“How in the hell do you deal with this guy as much as you do?” Taylor hissed as they continued on through the vent that led to Dr. Young’s office and the three idiots that were trying to get inside. Batman took them down with Batarangs before they both dropped down onto the floor. The office door was locked so they had to find another way to get inside. AKA-

“After I leave this place, I am not crawling through another vent for the rest of my life!” Taylor growled as they dropped down into the office. She glanced around and then cursed to herself. “Someone’s already been here!”

Batman dropped down beside her and frowned at the open safe and the torn apart office. “The only question now is who opened it! No sign of forced entry. Whoever opened it knew the combination. Let’s see.” He moved over to the computer and types something in. The video showed the Doctor as the one who opened the safe. “Good. Dr. Young got to her notes before Joker. She’s taken them to hide somewhere.”

“We need to follow her to find out where she put them, right?” Taylor asked.

“Yes.” The woman backed up and let Batman do his work to make some kind of trail to follow the Doctor. “Oracle, I’m on Dr. Young’s trail. I’ve had to calibrate the scanner to only show recent handprints. If we follow these, we’ll find her or the notes.

 _“I hope it works,”_ The woman replied. _“Just so you know, the GCPD found one of Joker’s bombs downtown. It was full of marzipan and kittens.”_

Taylor rolled her eyes.

“As I thought,” Batman replied. “It was just a twisted diversion. The real action’s on Arkham.”

So Batman led the way with his little hand-print finder. They ran into a few groups of goons but nothing too serious as they moved through and arrived in the Library. More men were searching for the notes here. Joker decided to make a few more comments but Taylor ignored him as she beat his men down to size.

_“Congratulations! Now all you have to do is go downstairs and save the helpless hostages. Right?”_

“Well, that’s not going to tell us there’s a trap waiting on us, right?” Taylor commented.

“Get back,” Batman told her after a few moments of silence.

“What are you going to do?”

He had pulled out his Grapnel but turned to answer her. “I’m going to get us a way inside.” She watched as he disappeared over one of the railings and crossed her arms with a sigh. 

_~He’d better hurry up and get back here. If he leaves me, I’m gonna-~_

The chandelier came crashing down onto the glass floor. “Holy shit!” Came squirting out of her mouth as she folded her hands over her head as the glass went everywhere. How she didn’t get hit amazed her. 

“Are you crazy?!” She slapped Batman’s arm as he landed next to her. “What if that had hit me!?”

“I told you to get out of the way,” He replied, dropping down to the new floor they could get it.

“Yeah, but you could have warned me! If I had been standing just a foot further, I could have-”

“Thank you, Batman. Are they all gone?” The nurse asked.

“Yeah, you’re safe now.” Taylor answered for him. She gave Batman another glare but chose to leave the conversation where it was at; for now.

“What happened?” The Dark Knight asked.

“It all happened so fast. Some patients broke in. Began tearing up the place. Like they were looking for something. Bill here fought back but there were too many. They took Dr. Young. She rushed in here and they followed!”

“I’m sorry.” Bill sighed. “When I came to, we were all tied up. Doc Young was gone! I heard a voice on one of the radios. It sounded like they were being told to meet in the Warden’s office!”

Taylor moved closer to Batman to talk privately. “So, Dr. Young was trying to hide her research notes on the formula when she was caught.”

“She might have hid them in one of these books,” The Detective offered. “Joker’s men wouldn’t think about looking through all of these or they would have already done it.”

Batman seemed to agree and began to look around on the shelves until he moved forward and grabbed one of the books, pulling out a slip of paper.

“Oracle, we’re found Dr. Young’s formula.”

_“Great. So does that mean you’ve stopped Joker?”_

Taylor watched as he burnt them. “It’s never that simple with him.”

_“What’s that you’ve got there, Bats? No! Not the formula! What am I going to do? Who can help me now? What’s that? How about our old friend Zsasz? Hmm. I did bump into him on the way back from the Gardens, where no doubt he was acting out some twisted fantasy.”_

“Let’s just go be-” Taylor halted for a moment as Batman continued on through the door. There it was again. That strange smell that she had caught on the elevator a little while ago. That meant…

“Aww. Am I in Scarecrow’s crazy crap again?” She whined as she pushed the door open. As she moved forward, Batman was nowhere in sight and she was in the hallway of the house she lived in with her father. “Damn it, Scarecrow!”


	11. Memories

“When I find this crazy Doctor,” Taylor hissed to herself as she walked down the hall. She hated returning back to this horrid place. She tried to ignore the blood on the walls and the things knocked over in the hall. “I am going to rip him to pieces.” She fell silent as she headed towards the kitchen, knowing what she was going to find. 

A second form of herself sat there at the table, shaking with a blanket over her as Gordon sat down across from her, giving her a warm cup of coffee.

_“Taylor, tell me what happened.” Gordon told her._   
_“It…it was Chad. He was my ex-boyfriend. I…I broke up with him a few months ago because he had a problem with me taking care of my father and not…not sleeping with him. He…I don’t know how he got in but I…” Taylor broke down into tears, covering her hands in her face. Gordon pulled a sad face as he reached across the table and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I…I don’t like killing people. I really don’t but sometimes…you just have to. To keep others from being hurt. To keep him from doing to others what he did to dad and…and what he tried to do to me…”_   
_“No one’s blaming you for this, Taylor.” Gordon told her. “Any one of us would have done the same thing if they were in your shoes. You did nothing wrong.”_

Taylor closed her eyes and turned from the room as things began to shift and change again. 

_~That was the main reason that I no longer dated. Chad had…ruined everything in more than just one way. After that, the only ones that I ever trusted were my brother and my boss. Even my own partner had to fight his way in before I…~_

_“All right guys, we have a hostage situation in the bank.” Gordon announced. “Carmicheal, its Carlyle.”_   
_“Carlyle?” Taylor lifted her head. “God-what is he doing? I thought he had left Gotham!”_   
_“Apparently not. We need you to go in there and calm him down. Can you do it?”_   
_Taylor shrugged into her vest. “Not a problem.”_   
_Carlyle Jones’ wife and daughter were the victims of a hit and run a few months ago. Charges were pressed against the bank teller behind the incident but he was found not guilty; they didn’t have to think hard about why Carlyle was here._   
_“I’m coming in with you.”_   
_Taylor turned to her partner, Joseph Kent. Young, blonde, and very flirtatious to the ladies. “Why? Don’t think that a woman can handle it on her own?”_   
_He gave her a smile as he pulled on his own vest. “Why would you want to…when you can handle it with me?”_   
_“Joe, you are-”_

A pair of firm hands gripped her shoulders, shaking her and pulling her out of Scarecrow’s entertainment before she could go any further. 

“Ow! Stop shaking me!” She told him, pulling away from the caped crusader. She glanced around and found that they were in a bell tower now, not the library anymore.

“How in the hell did we get up here?” She thought for a moment. “Dammit!” Taylor punched the wall next to the bell just to growl and shake the pain off. “This is just like Resident Evil: Code Veronica where Claire’s thrown in prison and has to beat up the zombies that attack her!”

“What does a zombie game have to do with this?”

Taylor looked at Batman like he was an idiot. “Are you serious? Claire Redfield is stuck on this damn island, trying to stay alive while looking for her brother! She runs into this insane teen that dresses like his sister, AKA Joker, and has to deal with an asshole as her partner,” She gave the man beside her a ‘hint hint’ look.

Batman controlled his tongue. “Zsasz has Dr. Young trapped in the Warden’s office.”

“All right,” Taylor glanced around the room. “Well, I don’t see a way to get out of here so we-” She jumped at the sound of the bell hitting the floor beneath them. She turned and found that Batman had cut it down. “I guess that works.”

“Let’s go.” He told her, jumping down.

The Security door to the East Wing was now smashed, giving them their next trail to follow. There were a few thugs here and there, like everywhere else, and they were taken care of easily like everyone else. 

_“Oh, there you are!”_ Joker popped up on the screen again. Taylor placed a hand on her hip and looked at him. _“I’ve been waiting for you, listening to Zsasz make the good Doctor scream while you two played around in Scarecrow’s world. How was it this time? Learn anything about yourself? Oh, tell me. Pull up a seat! Talk to me! I’m all ears.”_ He glanced around. _“Actually, that reminds me. I could have sworn I heard Zsasz cutting her ears off. Certainly sounded like it.”_ Joker gave off another of his crazy laughs as Taylor shook her head.

“Let her go, Zsasz!” Taylor growled. 

_~I want her first!~_

“Both of you stay right where you are!” the lunatic cried, dragging the Doctor into another room. “Listen to me carefully.” The woman began to let out cries and Taylor turned to the man beside her. He lifted a finger to his lips before moving closer. Taylor watched as he hid around the corner before landing a hit in Zsasz’s face with a Batarang.

“You monster! You evil, evil, evil monster!” Dr. young cried, beating her fists against the lunatics body.

“If you wanna talk to a monster, look in the mirror, sweetie.” Taylor growled, putting a hand on her hip again.

Dr. Young looked up at them. Batman moved forward and helped her up to her feet. “We found Bane.” He explained.

“I know.” Young looked away. “I…Joker threatened me. I wanted to stop the experiment. I tried to give him his money back.”

“Joker doesn’t take no for an answer!” Batman replied.

“He wants an army,” The Doctor explained. “A horrible twisted force to destroy Gotham. But he couldn’t do it without the formula. I hid it, but…”

“So he’s got Bane’s Venom and your formula.” Taylor sighed, shaking his head. “No wonder he wasn’t pissed when you destroyed what we found.”

“God, he has gallons of the stuff. There’s a lab, hidden in the Gardens. It’s locked off, but the security key codes for the entire island are in the Warden’s safe!” Dr. Young moved across the room, heading for the said safe.

“What else is Joker planning?” Batman asked.

“How should I know? You think anything he says makes sense? I think he’s ins-Oh my God!” Young cried. There was a Joker face painted on the safe. 

“Get out of the way!” Batman cried.

Taylor threw her arms over her head as the explosion went off. Something must have been in the explosion because Taylor’s vision was blurred as she tried to sit up.

“Poor Dr. Young.” Harley Quinn’s voice made her lift her head. She could barely see the blonde woman standing over Batman’s body as she spoke. “Still, you know how Mr. J hates a squealer.” She watched as she moved across the room. Two men were holding the Warden. “Talkin’ about squealers.” She hit him as he cried for help. “That old loony actually thinks he runs this place! Talk about crazy! Well, Bats, places to go! Get him boys!”

Batman still seemed to be out of it and Taylor wasn’t noticed so she pushed herself up and stumbled forward, leaning against the wall. “Stay right there, Harley.” The blonde turned to face her. “We still have some talkin’ to do, remember?”

Harley pulled a face. “Change of plan, boys. Take care of her first!”

By the time Taylor took the men down, Quinn and the Warden were both already gone. “Stupid bitch,” The detective mumbled under her breath as Batman finally came to and stood up. “Have a nice nap?”

Batman turned from her, urgency in his voice. “Oracle! Dr. Young is dead. Have you figured out a way past these security gates? Before she died, she told me there’s a production plant hidden somewhere in the Gardens.”

_“The WayneTech security protocol seems to be hack-proof. Lucius did a good job. It’s a two-part biometric sequence apparently generated by the Warden using a code sequencer.”_

“WayneTech?” Taylor asked herself; she had turned, not noticing the look Batman had given her. “It seems that Wayne is all over this place, isn’t he?”

“And destroyed by Joker in the safe explosion. Harley Quinn has the Warden, and he’s the only chance we have to get past these gates.”

_“Ok. Good luck.”_

As Batman pulled out his useful detective mode, Taylor stretched her back, wincing quietly. She deserved a massage and a spa treatment or something after all of this was over! And she knew just who was going to pay for it, too. After all, she was here to save him, wasn’t she? 

As things stayed silent, Taylor found her mind returning to the party she had gone to with Gordon the night before. WayneTech brought the millionaire back to her mind.

“I should have told him yes.” She hissed.

“Who?” Batman glanced at her.

She flushed, glancing away from him. “Brune Wayne.”

“Brune?” He raised a brow. “I think you mean Bruce.”

“Yeah, I know. I call him Brune.” She told him.

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I just do.” She growled.

Batman stared at her in silence for a moment before replying-“What did he ask you?”

“He wanted to teach me how to dance but I refused it.” Taylor glared at the look on his face. “Don’t judge me.”

“Bruce is apparently very popular with the ladies. Why tell him no?”

“It’s that entire reason,” Taylor rolled her eyes. “He’s a man-whore. Way too many girlfriends and believe me, I’m not one of the ones who likes to go to parties or dress nicely. Give me a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and I’m set to go out. Besides, I don’t really know him and there’s no way that I’m going to spend time with him like that; I gotta know if I like him or not first.”

“Isn’t that what dates are supposed to be for?” The Dark Knight asked her.

“That’s just it though,” She sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t want to go out on dates or get expensive gifts. I want a guy who wants to stay home with me curl up on the couch to watch a horror movie as we eat a bowl of popcorn. I don’t want to have to dress up and look nice for him to think I’m pretty. I…why am I talking about this? Have you figured out where to go next?”

Batman stared at her in silence for a moment, glad that her back was to him so she couldn’t see his smile. “Yes. The Warden has left a trail of blood for us to follow. Come on.”

They moved down the East Wing Corridor again and to the Main Hall where a few more goons were waiting on them. They found themselves back outside again and Batman led the way across the island to the Cell Access point. This…This was where Poison Ivy was supposed to be! That meant that Dylan was here too! Her brother had to be safe! She had come this far! She refused to believe that he was hurt or even…

“Hey, Batman?” The man turned to look at her. “Sorry,” Taylor held a blush on her cheeks. “But, uh, we gotta stop here for a second.”

Batman turned to face her. “But why?”

“Because I said so, okay?” She snapped, shoving her hands in her pockets. 

Batman went to reply but he saw the sign hanging on the wall behind them: The bathroom. He understood immediately, seeming as he had to make a quick pit stop himself. “All right.”

Taylor felt a little awkward, having to use the bathroom in a place like this, but when you gotta go, you gotta go.

When they had rejoined the other, sure to put this pit stop behind them, they continued on their path but Taylor wished that they hadn’t. Cells and Calls of screaming men greeted them, making her clap her hands over her ears. Was this another one of Scarecrow’s moves? Or was this just something else? Not wanting to stand around to find out, she moved after her companion as they followed Warden’s trail some more through another door that led them to the Green Mile.

“I swear,” A man’s voice reached their ears. Taylor dropped her hands immediately. “If I ever get my hands on that psycho, he’s gonna wish that he never tried to take over the Asylum. Let me go one on one with him and I’ll take him down; no sweat!”

A woman chuckled. “Would you now?”

“Oh yeah! No doubt about that, sweetheart!”

Taylor would recognize that voice anywhere. She ran forward. “Dylan!” She cried at the young man standing before Poison Ivy’s cell.

The man tilted his head and paused a moment before replying-. “Yes, Satan?”


	12. Brother, Ivy, and Harley

_“Yes Satan?”_

Taylor’s temper flared up and she ran forward, landing a blow against her brother’s arm. “Dylan, you asshole! Haven’t I told you not to call me that? I’m not that bad! After all, I dragged my ass through this damn place to find you!”

“Yeah, and it was a dumb idea.” Dylan’s voice threw aside all tones of teasing. “You could have gotten hurt, Taylor! Or worse! Look at you! You look like you’ve gotten your ass kicked!”

“You can thank Bane and a few others for that one.” Taylor told him.

Dylan’s eyes opened wide. “You ran into Bane? How are you still alive?!” He demanded.

“Oh, I had a little help with that.” Shoving a thumb over her shoulder, Dylan lifted his eyes to find Batman standing behind his sister in silence.

“Batman?” Dylan glanced between the two of them. “You’ve been traveling through the Asylum with _Batman_ all night?”

“Since about nine,” Taylor grinned. She pulled her brother in for a hug. “I’m so glad that you’re safe, Dylan. I was so worried!”

The man stared down at his sister with a soft smile as he patted her back. “I know, and I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean to worry you.” He then gave a small laugh. “Happy Birthday to us, right?”

“Yeah,” she gave a ‘ha’.

“Batman! Please! You’ve got to help my babies!” The woman’s voice finally made Taylor turn from her brother.

Pamela Isley, AKA Poison Ivy, was a woman near 5’8’ with long red hair and bright green eyes. Everything about this woman, but her hair and the red shirt she wore, was green. Apparently she prefered to be au natural with her plants and barely covers herself; only keeping one or two buttons on her shirt buttoned and wearing foliege panties, taking on a "naked goddess" persona. 

“I’m really not interested in a bunch of flowers, Ivy.” The Dark Knight replied to her.

“They’re in pain! Crying for help!” The woman continued.

“You’ve been with this the entire time?” Taylor asked her brother.

Dylan shrugged. “She wasn’t like this a couple of minutes ago.

“Just stay where you are! Last thing I need is you running free.”

“Ouch,” Dylan winced at the man in tights. “You don’t gotta be so mean, do you? She’s locked in a bowl.”

“Trust me,” Taylor began. “When you’re being chased all over the place by these goons, you don’t worry about sounding nice.” Taylor told him. “You should know that; you do work here after all.” She glanced him over. She knew the stories about the control that Ivy could have on men, but there was no way it could be set on her brother. Like he said, Poison Ivy was basically in a glass bowl. There was no way that her dust could seep out, was there?

“Poor children. I’ll save you.” She backed up and sat in the middle of the cell.

Dylan sighed. “Give me a second with her, guys.” He moved closer to the glass.

Batman turned just to have a pair of arms fling themselves around his neck, pulling him into a hug as a kiss landed on his cheek. He froze for a moment, not sure what to do.

“Thank you,” Taylor whispered. 

Batman shook his head, backing up from the woman; her arms fell. “For what?”

“If you hadn’t of been here to help me,” She told him, ignoring the red blush on her cheeks. “Then I wouldn’t have ever found him. I probably never would have made it through on my own. I could have handled Joker’s goons on my own, Scarecrow as well no doubt about that, but Bane would have killed me and, though I don’t want to admit it, if Croc decided to show up then I never would have stood a chance. So, thanks, Batman. I owe you; more than you’ll ever know.”

Batman stared at her for a moment, not sure what to say to that. “Don’t…It’s my job.” He told her, trying to ignore the feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Taylor smiled with a small giggle. “Aww, is the Dark Knight embarrassed? I’m shocked. Who’d have thought it.”

“Be quiet.” He told her, forcing himself not to grin. The tone of his voice gave him up though and the woman chuckled as her brother returned from glass.

“So, what now?” She asked.

“Well, I was trying to think of a way to save the Warden when you two popped up so three heads are better than one.” Dylan replied.

“What else can we do but go in there and save him?” She replied.

“Works for me.” Dylan nodded. Both of them turned and looked at the man in tights to hear his opinion. He suddenly got a very, very bad feeling about moving through the Asylum with BOTH the twins.

“This is the Security Control Room.” Dylan told them as they walked through the door. The Warden’s voice could be heard from the area above them. “Oh, this is totally a trap.” He hung his head.

“Yeah,” Taylor shook hers as she moved up the steps. “Tell us something that we don’t already know.”

“You okay, boss?” Dylan asked, moving closer to the older man in the chair.

At the Joker’s laugh, the screen popped up, showing them a film about what was happening in the next room. Ivy had convinced Harley to set her free from her cell.

“Shit.” All three of them said as Joker came to the screen.

_“I could watch those two all day! What a riot! Speaking of riots…Here’s a bit of civil unrest I cooked up just for you! And a little something extra just because little brother was found!”_

“That can’t be good,” Taylor sighed as the screen turned off again.

“Cut me free,” The Warden demanded. Dylan moved forward. “He’s taken control of the security overrides. I have the sequence generator, but without the terminal in my office, it’s useless.”

“Your terminal has been destroyed,” Batman told him. “Give me the sequencer!”

“What? Oh…yes, of course,” The Warden searched himself and then handed over a card. Batman pulled out one of his fancy machines to use. “It’s useless. Half the code won’t get you anywhere. We’re trapped in here.”

“There’s always a way out. Always.”

“So,” Taylor sat down on the desk, letting her feet get some rest. “What next?”

“Now that your brother has been found, I’m going to send you off back to the city after Gordon.”

“What?” Taylor was standing again and had placed herself in front of the Dark Knight. “You’re still trying this? Didn’t I tell you that you’re stuck with me?” She growled. “Yes, I’ve found my brother, but that doesn’t mean that I’m just gonna run off and leave you to deal with this on your own! Besides, I’ve still got a bone to pick with Harley, remember?”

“You’ve already done enough. You’re exhausted. Staying here even longer could result in your harm and-”

“Oh, and that couldn’t happen to you, too?” she growled. “Why in the hell do you want to do all of this on your own? Or is this all about what happened to Oracle?” Revealing it to be Barbara, Gordon’s daughter, who had been Batgirl might not have been a good idea. The look on Batman’s face told her that she had hit the mark. “Well, too bad, ‘cause I’m not going anywhere until this is all over, Batman!”

“All right you two,” Dylan cut their argument off. “Let’s figure out what we’re going to do next. You’re stuck with me now so let’s try to get along.”

Anger was clear on the superhero’s face. “You stay here,” Batman told the Warden. “Lock this gate when we leave.”

“Good idea,” the elder man nodded. “Can’t have someone of my stature falling back into their hands, now can we?” 

Taylor began to grind her teeth, keeping herself from making a comment on that. “Your boss sucks.” She hissed to her brother. She caught sight of a man that looked like another Warden behind a glass wall. She didn’t have to think hard about who that was. Clayface.

Moving on where Batman led them, a man jumped out to attack them but he was quickly taken care of.

“So, do you wanna go take care of Ivy before anything else? Or just pray that she doesn’t get involved with this and leave her be for now?” Dylan asked.

“Second Option,” Taylor answered him. “I’m getting tired of kicking all these asses tonight.” She commented as she kicked the single lunatic in the face again before moving into the next room.

“Surprise!” Harley Quinn cried as she slipped out from behind the open cells. “Y’know, Bats, I always thought there was a spark between us! But you replacing me with this other woman just ain’t workin’.”

“Oh, shove a cork in and come here so I can grind your face into the floor.” Taylor growled at her. 

Harley gave her a look before jumping up onto the next floor. “I don’t think so.” She broke something up there that set of electrical currents on the Security guards in the room. 

“Chris!” Dylan cried. He went to run forward to help him and the others but he would have been shocked as well; he had to stop and grind his teeth.

“I know, I know, you’re shocked! Come and get me! I double dare ya!”

“Be careful on the floor,” Dylan warned them. “The-”

“Ha! This’ll be easy as hell.” Taylor cut her brother off. Pulling out the nifty belt that Batman had given her, she shot her bat hook up onto the next floor and pulled herself up. As her feet landed on the floor, the men and Harley scattered.

Batman and Dylan looked at her for a moment and then glanced at each other as Batman pulled out his own gun. Dylan got what he was thinking.

“Oh hell no,” He backed up, careful to keep his feet on the safe floor tiles. “I could handle it if it was my sister or another woman, but there’s no way in hell I’m hugging onto you and doing that. I can find my own way up, thank you very much.”

“Stop running, dammit!” Taylor’s cry called out as Harley disappeared. She would have grabbed her but she had these other goons to deal with first. “I’m getting tired of chasing you!”

“Suit yourself.” Batman shrugged, moving to help Taylor above them. When he had landed safely, he tossed the Bat hook over his shoulder to the other man, hiding the small smirk on his face.

“Where do these damn things keep coming from?” Taylor cried as even more goons joined in. “They’re endless, even after all the ones we’ve already taken care of!”

“I hate this all ready,” Dylan hissed as he pulled himself over the railing. “This is nothing like the army shit I went through. I need a raise!”

Harley disappeared and they had to chase her into another room where they found her hiding behind some glass. She tried to talk to them but Taylor ignored her as she glanced around the room they were now in. The two guards were in a huge need of needing to be saved. They were hanging over pools of electrified water with bombs beside them. She didn’t know what the point of that was cause both were going to be useless. 

As Batman used his new toy that he received from the Warden to cut off the electricity to the water, Taylor and Dylan took down the guards. He had to open the Security gate again to get out quickly before the bomb went off. All of them gave a sigh of relief as the door shut.

“I thought we were both gonna die in there.” The Guard gasped.

“You’re safe now, Louie.” Dylan clapped his partners on the back. “Don’t worry, just stay out of sight for now.”

“You three going after that crazy witch?” He growled. “I saw her heading out the door as we got out of the room.”

“She won’t get away next time.” Taylor growled. “I’m getting tired of her slipping out of my fingers. Next time I dig my nails into her she’s going nowhere until I tell her she can.”

“We’ll stop her and then her boyfriend.” Batman assured them.

“Good! Listen, I’ll go try and get the ventilation system working. If you find her, don’t go easy on her. For me.” He told Taylor.

She gave a grin. “Not a problem.”

“You expecting congratulations?” Harley’s voice came to them. “C’mon. try and catch me.”

“She is totally trying to lead us somewhere.” Dylan plainly told them as the two guards moved away.

“Of course she is. It’s what they’ve been doing all night, but what else can we do?” His sister replied.

As they moved through the facility, Taylor quietly thanked her brother. He didn’t let a single of Joker’s goons get through to her to where she would have to pick up her fists or weapons. It was a rest that she was longing for. Dylan knew she must have been exhausted; it was a twin thing. 

As they moved through the facility some more, Taylor tried to ignore the growling that was coming from her stomach. They weren’t loud yet, but she was sure that they would be soon enough.

“Hey, check it! It’s Two-Face’s room!” Dylan called from across the room.

“More vents?” Taylor hung her head, watching Batman as he climbed up through the ceiling.

Breaking the lock again, they opened their path and headed into Extreme Incarceration. Joker was on a huge screen for them, Harley inside the middle guard tower. The Joker said that he would ‘leave them to her’ and so a bunch of goons jumped out again. This time Taylor had to fight though; especially since the tiled floors could be electrified. Taylor found herself using ice spikes to keep off the ground when the electric shocks decided to come up for a visit.

 _~Ice? In here?~_ Glancing over her shoulder, Taylor searched through it. _~Is Mr. Freeze in here? Please don’t come out, please don’t come out! That would just make everything else so much worse!~_

“You’ve done it again.” Harley hissed. “I don’t believe it. I’m on my way now.”

 _“Oops. Change of plan, kiddo.”_ Joker grinned.

“But I tried my best!” Harley cried.

_“Sorry, but there is no place for second place. I’m afraid you’re off the party list. Better luck next time.”_

“No.”

“Ha!” Taylor grinned. “I bet that didn’t feel nice! About freakin’ time!”

“You really don’t like her, do you?” Dylan asked his sister.

“Fuck no! When I get my hands on her, I’m gonna-”

“Die, you big, ugly bat!” Harley cried, running out with her flips and turns towards Batman.

“Oh, hell no!” Taylor placed herself in-between them. “I’ve been waiting on this all night!”

Taylor may have been tired, but she didn’t show it as the two men watched what she did to the female clown.

“Remind me,” Dylan whispered to the man in tights beside him. “Not to piss her off while we’re inside the Asylum, got it?”

Batman swallowed and almost agreed before catching himself and walking forward as Harley fell to the ground. He grabbed the slip of paper they had seen with the names on it through the video.

“Hands off the party list!” Harley reached for it, but Taylor kicked her again. The hand fell before Taylor picked the woman up, holding her hands behind her back.

“Why the smiles next to certain names?” Batman demanded.

“You two are the detectives. You tell me.” Harley growled. 

“Because you’re little boyfriend’s a psychopathic moron that is going to fail in all his plans of whatever the hell he’s trying to do?” Dylan offered. 

Harley went to hit him but forgot that Taylor held her hands behind her back. “Let go of me!”

“Fuck no! You’re too much of a pain in the ass to catch again.” She then watched as Batman brought one of his toys over and took a print of Harley’s hand before grabbing her and dragging her to an empty cell.

“You won’t find Mr. J.” Harley told them. “He’s in the secret lab in the Gardens and…oh crap!”

“Yup,” Batman grinned as he walked away. “I know.

“Damn! Well, he’ll get me out! You’ll see.” She called after them.

“Oracle,” Batman called Gordon's daughter. Dylan shot his sister a look and she replied with an ‘I’ll tell you later’ look. “I’m done. Harley is subdued and I have her prints scanned.”

 _“So you can find the secret lab in the Gardens._ ” Her voice came.

“Yes. Harley’s been everywhere on the island, so I’m calibrating the scanner to only show prints that have traces of chlorophyll.”

“Hey, Taylor,” She turned from Batman’s talk to her brother. “Nice job with the psycho’s girlfriend. I’m impressed. You seem to have gotten better since the last time I saw you fought.”

“That’s because it’s been years, jerk-wad.”

“What? Do you really gotta call me names right now? Consider what we’re going through!”

“I am, and I’m calling you a jerk-wad for dragging me through her to deal with saving your ass.”

“I didn’t ask you to come save me!” He growled at her. “I can handle myself!”

She gave a grin as she folded her hands behind her head. “I know.”

He opened his mouth to reply but then stopped himself. “So, the Botanical Gardens now, right?” Dylan sighed. “Well, we know who’s gonna be there now, don’t we?”

Taylor hung her head as all three of them said together – “Poison Ivy.”


	13. The Gardens, Part 1

“Wow. Should have seen this coming.” Taylor stared up at the doorway leading into the Gardens. Plants had grown up all over it. It seemed that no one really cared to keep it…presentable. 

More of Joker’s chattering teeth were there to greet them in the hall of the plant-filled gardens. Dylan didn’t seem to be in a good mood and kicked them as he walked by. 

“We should pick up Harley Quinn’s trail,” Batman began. “We can’t waste any time in finding the Titan production plant.”

At the mention of Harley, the Detective couldn’t help but let a smile pass over her face as she recalled the beating she was finally able to deliver to that pain in the ass. Dylan, knowing the devilish look on his twin’s face, rolled his eyes as she shook his head, fighting a small smile. The twins let Batman lead the way with the machines that he had used before and they quickly found another set of men waiting for their fate to be delivered. The door the set of men were guards was blocked off though so Batman had to use one of his gadgets again and through the door they went. Inside the next room were more plants, gargoyles from the ceiling, and a large statue in the center between the stairs as men were guarding from all over the room.

In silence, Batman slipped into the floor vents as the twins slipped behind the pillars and the plants. The Dark Knight was able to make room for them with the men closer to them and quickly they were able to take care of the others around the room.

“This is so much easier with a third person,” Taylor sighed in relief, wiping sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. Joker was making a comment for them again but the trio ignored him. “I am really glad that we found you.” She told her brother.

Dylan stared at his sister. To others outside of the two of them, one would think that she was just trying to bring up conversation but he knew his sister. She hid it, and hid it well, but he could tell. Taylor was exhausted. And with good reason. Dylan had gone through the Marines. He was trained to go through ordeals like this. Trained in the forest and under fire. Taylor may have been a Gotham City Police Detective, but this wasn’t the sort of thing that she was trained for. To be honest, he was impressed with his sister. He knew that she was strong but to undergo something much like his forest travels in the army…she really had grown up. If there was something to be proud of his sister for, then this truly was it.

“I say we go on vacation when we’re through with this, Taylor, what do you think? Hawaii sound good enough to you? The sun and sand and water and everything else they have there to offer?”

Taylor gave a sigh. “And get away from all this damn rain and psychos? Hell yeah!”

Batman gave a snort to cover up his laugh. In all truth, Hawaii sounded like a really good vacation but this was not something that he was going to be able to do. He was sure that after this was over, a lot of things were going to happen with the government and the police. No doubt in his mind would Gordon allow Taylor and Dylan go off after tonight but Batman didn’t have that luxury. Not until everything had settled down again.

Following Harley’s handprints again, the trio found themselves in the next room. Their pathway covered in water as other men stood on the opposite side of the hall. Taylor felt her throat tighten. It was Joker that stood there, holding one of the Asylum guards.

“You need to stop this!” the Detective cried out. “Stop before you go any further!”

Joker turned to look at her with a smile. “Stop? But everyone’s dying to see what I do next!”

“Let him go now!” Batman ordered.

“Really?” Joker pulled that grin of his. “Ok, if you say so, Bats.” He kicked something into the water that electrocuted it, resulting in the guard’s death when he was pushed into it. “Whoopsie!” Joker grinned before turning to leave the room. He gave a laugh and turned to look back at the three of them. “You really need to speed things up, Bats. You have three people in your little group, now, so shouldn’t it be easier?” He gave a little wave before smashing his hand on the button on the wall and sending off an explosion, blocking the path so they couldn’t follow him after getting over the water. “At this rate, you’ll never catch me!” His laugh rebounded as it died away, telling them that he had retreated.

“Figures he would have done something like that,” Dylan shook his head. He frowned at the floating body in the water.

Without another word, Dylan showed them back out of this room and found themselves another way to go. It was a good idea to have a man who knew the layout like the back of his hand. They ended up at the Glasshouse Generator Room, finding some more thugs and another guard; most likely being used as bait. Dylan refused to let his partners be used like that and went, in a firm term, ‘Super Saiyan’ and released a ‘Galick Gun’ on their asses.

Translation: He beat the shit out of everybody. 

A lot.

“Thanks,” Carl rubbed his wrists when he was set free. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” the Dark Knight answered him. “I eat punks like these for breakfast.”

“What were they doing in here, Carl?” Dylan asked him.

“The ones that weren’t hurting me went over there and started doing something to the Power controls. I have no idea what they were doing.” He looked over at the twins. “Dylan, if you’re here, where’s Denny?” Dylan turned his face from the other guard. Taylor felt her heart lurch as Carl hung his head again. “Dammit!”

Taylor turned away, not sure what she was supposed to do here and decided to exclude herself. Batman got the same idea and did the same, whipping out another one of his gadgets to do his ‘dirty work’. 

“I’ve cut down the generator.” Batman announced after a few more minutes of silence. “We’ll be able to get past the water back there.”

“Yeah,” She gave a nod. Dylan followed in silence for a moment back the way they had come, all trying their hardest to ignore all that Joker said. This was really starting to piss all three of them off and Taylor found herself imagining beating the clown’s face in when she finally got her hands on him.

The door, Unfortunately, was still blocked off so they had to travel through the vents again.

“You have to get off on this, don’t you B-Man?” Dylan asked. 

That stopped the trail in the middle of the vent and Batman tried his hardest to turn around to look over Taylor’s head towards the other man. “What?”

“Well think about it, you’re bigger than I am, your shoulders are bigger than my skull and here you are squeezing into tiny vents when you have explosive gel in your pocket. Let’s be honest, if you wanted too you could blow doors down but no, you want to feel tight and secure. Did your mother not hug you enough as a child and you feel some need to feel slightly embraced by these airshafts?”

Batman froze for a moment and stared at the man before turning back and moving towards the end of the vent. A cold feeling was left behind. Taylor turned her head over her shoulder.

“You might have touched a nerve there, bro.”

“Well, it wasn’t like I was trying to,” Dylan replied. “Much.”

The next twenty minutes were like a silent war ground and Taylor had a feeling that, as Batman used his gel to blow open another wall, he had half a mind to throw her brother through it instead. When Dylan finally dropped down from the vent and joined them, he shivered.

“Is it just me, or is there a chill in the air?”

Batman glared at him a bit longer as he pressed his button, blowing up the wall. By the look in his eyes, Taylor could just imagine pieces of her brother flying past them.

Dylan gave a grin, having gotten the feeling himself now. “Anytime you want, B-man. Anytime.”

“Calm down now, both of you. We already have enough problems here and I don’t need to have to knock you both around as well, all right?” Taylor gave her brother a push over the new edge before turning back to Batman. “I apologize about that. Dylan…well…there’s no word for me to explain him. Just take this into consideration. These guards, he’s around them every day. They’re like a family and now they’re being hurt and dying. He’s gotta let out his anger somewhere.”

Batman stared at her for a moment before giving a sigh and following after the other man.

Taylor gave a sigh. _~Whew. I’m glad he believed me. This is Dylan naturally.~_

“The area’s falling apart so the grapple isn’t safe” Batman told them. “We’re going to have to climb up the old fashioned way.”

“Oh no,” Taylor hung her head as she followed the Dark Knight. “Not again.” _~I don’t know how much more of this I’m going to be able to take.~_ She told herself.

“What all have you gone through?” Dylan asked his sister.

She looked up at him. “I’ll tell you all about it after we finally get out of here.”

With a firm face, Taylor crawled around after the two men through the broken walls and to another vent and back into the normal area of the Garden with two more goons picking on another man.

“Jordan!” Dylan helped the man up to his feet instantly. 

“Dylan!” The man clutched his arms. “Oh, thank god! Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“Are you all right?” Taylor asked, joining in. She led the man over to one of the benches and set him down.

“Do I look all right?” Jordan demanded. “They were going to kill me! We were in the aviary hanging out, and they came in with Joker, shooting up the place, and loaded us into cages.”

“Are they still in there?” Batman asked.

“No, man, no one’s come out since. You’ve got to help them!” 

“Stay here!” Batman told him. He exchanged a look with the twins before leading the way into the Aviary. Right through the door they found more men being held in birdcages high off the ground, crying for help.

 _“Listen,”_ Joker’s voice broke out on the radio again. _“The bat is on the way. If you see him, send the annoying doctors to Hell. That’s the down one right?”_

“Yeah,” One of the goons smiled. “They’re going down!”

_“Good. And remember, if you hear a collar go off, Batman and his friends are here.”_

“Jokers men are all wearing the security collars,” The Dark Knight informed quietly. “We’ll have to take out the operator first. I’ll take care of him. You two just get ready to deal with the others before they join in.”

“Not a problem.” Dylan grinned before slipping off. 

Taylor sighed and followed him. It didn’t take too long after Batman had dealt with the operator. The twins were on either side of the room and the goons were either knocked out or bleeding; either way it hurt. Joker was going crazy, pissed that the three of them had found their way through yet again. 

“Joker wanted the entrance to the Titan plant guarded.” Taylor found herself commenting aloud as her brother moved forward to talk to the caged men. “Maybe we can find Harley’s prints here again.”

“Apparently there’s a hidden door back here for Doctor Young’s lab.” Dylan announced as he approached them. “What in the hell does Doctor Young have to do about this?” Taylor explained everything to her brother as Batman did the searching. “What the FUCK!?” He growled. “And where the hell is she now?”

“You don’t have to worry about confronting her,” Taylor crossed her arms. “Joker took care of that not too long before we found you.”

“Is that right,” Dylan growled, balling his fists.

“Here, I’ve found it.” Batman called to them.

Dylan moved towards the other man quickly, a firm look on his face. Taylor watched after her brother and gave another sigh. She thought that her brother was going to be able to handle his anger when it came to his partners and friends being hurt. She might have been wrong.


	14. The Gardens, Part Two

The rest of their trip was nothing too different than what it had been all night. Now it was a silent travel as the trio was stuck in thoughts of their own. Dylan’s, without a doubt, was on what he was going to do to Joker for all that he’s done to the men here in the Asylum. Batman was leading the group, like normal, thinking to himself, leaving Taylor in between the two men all to herself. She was planning out everything that she was going to do when she got out of this damn place and the first thing was to take a long, hot bath. She feared that it would take forever for her to scrub all this dirt and slime off of her. She gave herself a smile and it grew larger as she could imagine a man in the tub behind her, rubbing her shoulders in a massage Imagine her surprise when she found out that it was Bruce Wayne behind her. It made her jump; thankfully neither of the men took notice.

 _~Where the hell did that come from?~_ She asked herself, shaking her head as she crossed her arms. _~That was hardly…oh hell,~_

Who was she kidding? Mr. Wayne wasn’t that bad looking and he seemed alright when she had met him. To be honest, she was getting rather tired of it just being her and her brother all the time. Outside of work, she had no life. She ate, slept, and watched movies. No friends. No boyfriends. Ever since her father that’s how it had always been. She had thrown everything away to help her father and now that he was dead…she just didn’t see the point of building something up like that. Her job took up too much of her time. Maybe now she should at least try. If Bruce was still up for that dinner…

At the thought of that, Taylor felt guilt traveling through her as her eyes rose to the back of Batman. Why she felt guilty, she had no idea. It’s not that she had a thing for Batman…or did she? Don’t get her wrong, there was definitely something about the man in tights in front of her, and not just the sight of the sculpted body she could see protruding from the bodysuit he wore. Or those blue eyes of his…Or the strength of his grip…the warmth of his body when he had held her…Or his firm lips…

 _~Oh dear,~_ She shook her head, ridding those thoughts from her mind. _~This is not good. Not good at all. I have a crush on batboy. How did that happen?~_ She paused for a moment. _~Well, considering what we’re going through,~_ She told herself. _~And that body…~_

It was true. She was instantly attracted to the Dark Knight due to his body but she knew that there was something else. Maybe it was the way he acted. His seriousness, but he was hiding something. At points through the night, when Taylor had tried to lighten the mood with talk, the man before her tried his hardest to reply or laugh. She knew he was trying to keep his identity hidden and she was trying her hardest back to find out who it was. She thought that she would recognize that body build on a man she knew, but she couldn’t think of one. Maybe…maybe Batman wasn’t a cop, like she had thought. Now she had to think of others and keep her eyes open after all of this was over. She would Find Batman, outside of his duties. She just didn’t know what she would do to him…

Taylor wasn’t the only one having troubles with her thoughts. Batman was himself, doing all he could to keep himself from glancing over his shoulder at the woman that stood only two feet behind him. He could almost feel her breath on the back of his neck when she spoke and he wanted to reach out and grab her hand when she would pass by, but he held himself back. Now was not the time for him to be having thoughts of this Detective. Trust me, there was nothing more he’d like to do than to grab her right now and pin her against the wall, releasing all the fire he felt inside of him into her, but he was a gentleman. He held himself back, no matter how hard it seemed.

And he was extremely pleased that Dylan was here with them now too. Now he knew, if he lost control, he wouldn’t hurt the woman.

He didn’t know what it was. He had no idea why even the thought of this woman lit a fire inside of him. No other woman had made him endure something close to this. Maybe it was her attitude. This was the only woman that admitted that she had hated him. That didn’t want anything to do with him. Maybe that was why he wanted to twist her around his finger, taking her as his own. 

_~God~_ Batman shook his head as he knelt down with one of his gadgets to open the hidden door they had finally found. _~What’s wrong with me? I need to get out of here, and fast.~_

Joker turned to the trio that walked through the door. His two henchmen stood up, dropping their grips on the barrels before them. He grinned. “Well, look who’s discovered our secret lab. Since you’ve made it this far, let me show you what I’ve cooked up.” The bridge behind them folded up, giving them nowhere to escape; like they were going to. Taylor firmed her grip as Joker lifted up some sort of gun but then lost herself as Joker shot his two men instead.

“The fuck?” Dylan raised his brows in confusion himself as Joker began to give one of his laughs; strangely, that shot a tingle down Taylor’s back. 

Where the hell did that come from?

The woman watched as the two men began to transform, mutate even, into one of those big ass creatures like Bane. 

“Shit!” She remembered this from one of the first goons that Joker had set on them earlier in the evening; the time Batman had taken Taylor’s gun from her. She winced at the sound of skin ripping and their bones transforming into spikes. Joker gave a little wave before retreating behind a set of doors. “How the hell are we going to deal with this again!”

“You’ve dealt with this before?”

“They’re pretty much Bane,” His sister replied. “And yes, there were others like this.”

“Joker’s a fuckin’ psycho.” Dylan shook his head.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Taylor closed her eyes for a moment before watching as the two monsters rushed at them; the trio scattered in opposite directions.

Dylan was the one to find the answer to this problem. He went into ‘Tarzan mode’ when one of them had cornered Taylor into a corner and with that, he made the one he was riding beat the hell out of the other one, leaving just one for the trio to deal with. It was easy after that. As it turned out, the titan’s did their work for them and ended up destroying everything in the room. Taylor calmed her heart as Batman updated Oracle.

“Oracle, we’ve destroyed the Titan production facility but Joker escaped with enough to cause us real problems.”

 _“Just when you think it can’t get any worse,”_ The woman sighed. Taylor could see her boss’ daughter shaking her head.

“They’ve been using a Venom plant hybrid to create the Titan strain. The plant’s the key, and there’s only one person on Arkham Island who can help us.”

“And what makes you think Poison Ivy will help you?”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Dylan gave a grin as he cracked his back. “I can take care of it.”

“You sure about that?” Taylor teased. He frowned at her.

Batman closed his eyes. “I’ve a sample of her pheromone signature on record. She’ll be somewhere in the Gardens. We’ll track her down.” 

Normally, Taylor wouldn’t have cared but the thought of Batman having Ivy’s smell stuck in his head made her frown, crossing her arms.

In order to get over the Ravine they had passed over on in the first place, Batman had to bring out a new toy. Taylor watched him in confusion as he typed something out on his wrist. 

“What are you calling for?” She asked him.

The Dark Knight gave her a grin before grabbing her hand. “Just watch,” He told her, pulling her out of the way. 

She raised her brows, trying to ignore the fluttering feeling in her chest. It worked when a jet, The Batwing, smashed in through the window above them. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers as it dropped a package at their feet. Batman moved towards it as Dylan’s own mouth dropped open before he mumbled something under his breath about Batman being a ‘rich sonofabitch’. 

Batman turned back to the woman, tossing her one of the Line Launchers that the jet and brought for them. She caught it, her eyes still stuck on the Batwing. 

“You’ve SO got to take me on a ride in that thing! And any other ride you have, including the BatMobile!”

For a moment all thoughts of where they were was wiped from his thoughts as the Dark Knight gave a small laugh while the jet flew off again. “Maybe I will.”

With the Line Launchers in hand, all three were over in no time.

“So, where to next, B-Man?” Dylan asked as his feet were planted on the ground again.

They followed Batman through the Aviary and to the flooded corridor again where the Line Launcher came into another useful event. They found Ivy here, talking to her plants.

“It’s all right, my darlings. I’m here now. My poor darlings…” The woman sighed as she touched one of the vines that were reaching for her. “Yes, I know they’ve found us. But I won’t let them hurt you. I’ll kill them first.”

“Oh, don’t you trust me, Pamela?” Dylan grinned.

Poison Ivy returned the smile. “Oh, I know that you won’t hurt us, dear. You would never do that.”

“Ivy,” Batman began as Taylor shot a look at her brother due to his red cheeks. “I know Dr. Young mutated these plants to produce Venom.”

“Yes. And I heard it through the grapevine the evil woman paid the price.” Ivy chuckled.

“I need you to help me create an antidote.”

“Why should I?” Ivy asked him. “Let Joker have his fun. I’ll enjoy watching you squirm.” Taylor watched as one of the vines went to attack Batman but the man caught it. The squeeze he gave the vine seemed to hurt Ivy, making her cry out.

“Now, now,” Dylan pulled on Batman’s hand, releasing the vine as Ivy fell to her knees. “You can ask nicely, Bats.”

Batman gave him a look before stepping forward. “Every plant on this island will get the same unless you cooperate.”

Dylan moved closer, kneeling beside her. “Pamela, can you help us?”

Ivy gave a sigh. “There’s a plant, growing deep in Arkham Island. Only it can counter the effects of this Titan strain.”

“Where can we find it?” Taylor asked, relieved in her brother’s work.

Ivy smiled at this. “Oh, in Killer Croc’s lair.” Taylor’s face paled and Ivy chuckled at her. “You didn’t think it would be easy, did you?”

Batman turned to walk away but then turned back to the woman. “Go back to your cell, or I’ll be after you next.”

“And I’ll be waiting.” Ivy smiled, watching as Dylan and Taylor moved after the Dark Knight themselves.

“Has she…” Taylor looked at her brother as Batman talked to Oracle about Killer Croc’s area. “Used her…stuff on you?”

“Her stuff?” Dylan thought for a moment. “Oh, that. No, surprisingly, she hasn’t. If she had, I would be obsessed with her. One would think that she would but it seems that…”

“She actually likes you?” His sister offered up.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Well, aren’t you the lucky one?”

“Yes. Yes, I suppose that I am.” He grinned.

Batman led them back to Cash. It wasn’t hard to figure out why. Cash loathed Croc so, without a doubt, he would know where the alligator-man’s lair would be. Joker had gone behind their backs and injected Ivy with Titan. Dylan had wanted to go back and save her but Taylor had talked him into staying with her and Batman, promising that they would take care of Ivy AFTER they got what they needed to save her from Joker’s injection. Unfortunately, with the Titan serum, plants became a part of the obstacles that they had to avoid or destroy.

“Careful, careful,” Taylor told the two men as they headed back to Arkham Mansion. Ivy’s plants were all over the damn place in here too, giving off some kind of poisoned gas they had to avoid the floor because of. Thank God they had gotten the Line Launchers. The twins just followed Batman’s movements, all three of them silently relieved when they ran in Cash again.

“Dylan!” The man gave his partner and hug around the neck. “Thank God you’re alright!”

“Yeah, I’m pleased with that as well.” Dylan replied, patting him on the back. “Good job on staying alive, Aaron.”

The man smiled. “You too. Now, what’s the deal with the plants?” He asked.

“It’s complicated.” Batman replied.

“Let me guess. Poison Ivy. She teamed up with Joker.” Cash sighed.

Taylor winced. “Eh, yes and no. Like he said, it’s complicated.”

“All that matters is that we can stop the plants taking over the island, but-”

“There’s always a ‘but’, isn’t there?” The man sighed again.

“Yeah,” Dylan hung his head. “Now, I would have been able to help with this, but I don’t pay attention to this guy. You do. Where is Killer Croc?” Dylan asked his partner.”

“That monster’s got his own special cell,” Cash hissed. “It’s right below the transfer room back in Intensive Treatment. Elevator goes right down to an old sewer. We just drop meat down there every day or so and try to forget about him. It’s locked off. More security than the Joker. You won’t get in without the Warden’s permission. He has the codes.”

“Thanks Cash,” Batman nodded. “Stay here and do not go near the plants. They’ll kill you!”

“And you couldn’t tell us that?” Taylor asked her brother as they made their way to Intensive Treatment. 

“Like I said before. I don’t pay attention to that thing. I’m further in towards where Ivy and Two Face are at.” He replied. “Trust me, I have enough to deal with, don’t you think?”

Oracle gave them a heads-up about the security on the center to be tight due to Joker and his men. The Lin Launcher came into handy here yet again and gave them entrance into the Center without too much of a struggle. All three of them were relieved. Ivy’s plants were taking hold of a lot of things so they had to move quickly. Joker’s men were still causing problems for them, by blowing up the Gargoyles that Batman and Taylor had used for help last time they made their way through here, but it that wasn’t too much of a big deal. Dylan seemed to know this place inside and out so he had spots for the three of them to hide before taking care of all the goons. Joker was pissed!

Breaking into some more doors wasn’t a problem either, but the silence between the trio was beginning to kill Taylor. She was exhausted, hungry, annoyed, and- 

She froze. “No.” She said.

“No what?” Dylan asked, pausing beside her.

Here it was. That smell again. She wasn’t going to fall for it this time. 

“It’s Scarecrow.” She told her brother. 

Dylan looked at her as she clapped a hand over her mouth and nose. “What the hell are you talking about, Taylor? This place has filled your head with craze, I tell ya...” With his final word, Taylor watched as her brother’s steps stumbled before he fell forward to his knees. Batman was stumbling forward, like he was sleep walking. She knew it. Scarecrow-

“So, you’re smart after all!” the sickly sweet voice made the woman turn, holding her breath for as long as she could. Scarecrow was standing on the other side of the bars of the walkway. The tone of his voice told her that he was smiling behind his mask. “I’m impressed, but you can’t hold on for too much longer, can you?”

No, she couldn’t. Taylor had never really been too good at holding her breath but her mind moved quickly. Moving towards the gate she reached out and punched Scarecrow in his face as hard as she could. He shouted curses at her and swore he would rip her mind apart but she ignored him, turning back to the two men with her. Batman was closest. Still fearful to breath just yet, she moved in front of the stumbling man in tights and grabbed his arms. Ignoring the warm feeling from his hard muscles, she shook him, giving off sounds as she continued to hold her breath. The man was in a daze and could end up anywhere as he continued to walk. Taylor was glad that she had caught the smell and blocked it from her before it could grab ahold. She was amazed the last time it happened that they didn’t die as they traveled to the bell tower.  
Her shaking seemed to work on the man in tights and he shook his head as her arms came to a stop. He grabbed his face, rubbing his eyes and he took deep breaths. He glanced up and found Taylor with a red face as she was afraid to breathe again. He understood what she was doing and couldn’t help it as a small smile spread across his lips.

“I think you’re safe now.” As she took big gasps, Batman glanced around the room. “Where’s Scarecrow?”

“I gave him a fist to the face and he ran like a pansy.” Taylor answered him. “But that doesn’t surprise me. He’s more of a ‘behind the lines’ type, anyway. He’s not Bane.”

Batman nodded in agreement before glancing at Dylan. “Is he all right?”

“I think he’ll be fine,” Taylor answered him. “We can take a little break for now as he wakes himself back up.” She expected Batman to refuse that but gave a small smile as he just nodded. The Dark Knight had to be exhausted himself. She grinned at him. “Glad that I didn’t let you come in by yourself now?”

Batman gave a soft chuckle. “Yeah, I suppose I am.”

Taylor gave a larger smile and that was when they both realized that she was still holding onto him. She went to remove her hands but found that she couldn’t. They seemed to be stuck there as she found herself taking in the body in front of her again. This time she wasn’t hiding it as her eyes glanced over every shape and size of the man in front of her. Every slash in his suit exposed tan, firm skin that she had half the mind to reach out and touch. She felt a small fire lit itself in the pit of her stomach again as she continued to drink in the man before her.

What she didn’t notice, though, was that Batman was doing the same thing to her. Her body was thin, but still muscular due to her job and the karate classes she had taken for almost 20 years. Her skin was white, slightly tan as her golden-brown hair was frizzled a bit at her temples and the nape of her neck due to all the stress and the traveling they were going through. And her eyes…those grey eyes of hers held a fire to them in battle but here, they showed exhaustion. An exhaustion that the Dark Knight felt responsible for.

Before either of them could make another sound, Batman reached up with his own hands and wrapped the woman in his arms, bringing her against his in a tight, yet soft grip. Taylor froze before loosening her restraint and falling weakly into the man’s hold. She rested her head against his chest, the fire in her stomach growing fiercer as the feel of him beneath her. At the masculine smell that she took in from his body. Both of them stood there in silence, neither of them keeping track of the time as they held to the other. Taylor didn’t want this moment to end as the man’s warmth and arms seemed to protect her from the final legs of this crazed journey but it finally came to a stop at her brother’s voice.

“What the hell is going on here?”


	15. Bye-Bye Batcave

Batman and Taylor both pulled away from the other and looked at Dylan, glad to find that the ex-marine was only pushing himself up from the ground, holding his head. 

_~Damn, that was close~_ Taylor sighed in relief. “You all right, Dylan?”

“Yeah…Scarecrow’s little venom tricks, huh? You have been hit by that before?”

“Twice. I wasn’t going to let myself hit it a third time.” Taylor wanted to glance over at the man in tights but found that she couldn’t. She could only imagine what her brother saw after all the shit that he had gone through in the army.

“I’m gonna wring that freak’s friggin’ neck when I catch up to him!”

His sister gave a little chuckle. 

Scarecrow had taken the last elevator so the trio had to find another way down, AKA, jumping, and following the crazed Psychiatrist. They came across a group of goons talking about how crazy Scarecrow was for going down to Croc’s cell, so they were in the right direction. As Batman opened the door with his gadget again, Taylor hugged herself, giving a small, silent chuckle at the thought of Batman’s warmth again. Something like that wasn’t going to be able to happen again but that didn’t mean she didn’t want it to.

Batman led the way through Control Room Access and ended up in the lower sewers of the Asylum. Taylor clapped a hand over her nose at the smell but didn’t make a sound.

“Hey look,” Dylan pointed across the way. “One of Ivy’s plants.”

“This far already?” Batman asked aloud, stepping towards it.

“Too late, Batman!” The voice made all three of them turn to find Scarecrow standing in the way. “One step closer…and this goes into the water!” The man lifted up the leather bag in his hand. The cave will fill with your deepest, darkest nightmares and you will never reach your precious Venom roots.”

“Don’t do it, Crane!” Batman called out.

“Look, Doctor,” Taylor took a step forward. “We can talk about this, can’t we? What is it that you want?”

“What do I want?” Scarecrow’s hand lowered for a moment, a thoughtful breath to his words. “What do I want…I-” Before he could finish, Killer Croc jumped out of the water behind them and grabbed Scarecrow, swinging him around. 

Several things happened at that moment. 1. Taylor cried out in absolute horror. 2. Batman took out a Batarang and tossed it at the collar around Croc’s neck. 3. Dylan moved in quickly, snatching the screaming Scarecrow from Croc’s hands. 

Taylor hurriedly moved forward to the passed out man in her brother’s arms. Scarecrow might have been a bad guy but she didn’t like the thought of him being eaten by Croc. “Is he okay?”

“He’ll be fine,” Her brother nodded, setting the Doctor off to the side. “Just scared shitless; Croc can do that to you.”

“You’re telling me.” Taylor sighed, her heart still racing.

“I didn’t know you could move that fast.” Batman commented.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, Bats,” Dylan rapped him on the stomach with his knuckles. “And a lot more things you never will. Unless, of course, you end up marrying my sister or something.” He threw his head back, laughing. “Trust me, you’re the only guy I know that can survive the Happening!” That brought a small smile from Batman’s lips as he tried not to laugh.

Taylor glared at both of the men before turning around and leading the way through the sewer herself, mumbling under her breath about both of them being assholes. _~I’m not that bad!~_ she told herself.

The area that they were looking for was right down the way. Taylor was going to charge in straight on but Batman held out his arm, holding her back for a moment.

“Oracle, we’re heading into Croc’s Lair to collect the plant spores Ivy spoke about. He’s in some kind of old sewer network. Send me some schematics. It’s like a maze down here.”

Taylor ignored what else was said, turning instead to watch her brother as he pulled out a gun of his own, staring down into the dark tunnel. “So, how are we going to do this?” She asked.

“Here,” Batman turned to them again. “I have two scanners that will lead us to the six spores that we need. Let’s split up.”

“There’s only two, so someone will have to wait here or go with another.” Taylor commented, placing a hand on her hip.

“Yeah,” Dylan reached out and grabbed one of the scanners before grabbing the Line Launcher off of his sister’s hip. “Taylor, you stay here. Batman and I will be right back.”

“What? I’m not-” But Dylan was already making his way across the planks on the water, disappearing silently through the water. She turned her gaze to the man in tights still standing before her. “I’m not staying here.” She told him firmly.

Batman opened his mouth to argue before shaking his head and turning to the path himself. “Come on.”

They had to move carefully and stay silent on the planks on the water as they searched for the spores. Taylor just followed, a firm grip on the back of Batman’s cloak. Croc jumped up a time or two on their way to the first spore but Batman took care of him with a Batarang to his collar again. It seemed to electrocute him.

“And here’s number 1,” Taylor grinned, grabbing the green thing and collecting the spores. “Now let’s go find the others.” She gave a jump as Croc showed up again but, like before, Batman took care of that. “This place is either gonna kill me or make me crazy.” She hissed, rubbing her eyes.

“It is called an Asylum.” Batman reminded her.

She glared at him as he gave a smile. “Shut it, you.” She grabbed his cloak again. “And move it.”

They didn’t see any of Dylan while down here and Croc only showed up a time for two more; he must have been giving Dylan a hard time as well because they heard his growls from the opposite side of the sewers. Taylor didn’t know how Dylan was getting through it but as long as Croc was still attacking that meant he was still alive.

Everything was easy, if you could call it that, until Croc destroyed the wooden planks that they had been using as their walkway. Taylor frowned as they cleared the spores from the fourth plant. “Well, that screws everything else up, doesn’t it?” She asked.

“Not really.” Batman pulled out his Line Launcher and fired it across the way. He wrapped a firm arm around Taylor’s waist as he held to the line with his other. “Hang on.” He told her before kicking off. 

Taylor did as he said, trying to ignore the fire in the pit of her stomach again as they slid across the line. Everything was fine until Croc popped up in the middle of the line, waiting for them. A look of horror spread across both their faces before a roar caught their attention. Dylan, on a line of his own, came flying from the left, his feet landing a powerful blow to the side of Croc’s head. Taylor gave a cry of relief and turned her head to watch as Dylan jumped from his line to theirs and followed behind them.

“Good job, Dylan!” Taylor hugged her brother when they landed.

“Eh, it was nothing.” He replied, waving her off of him. 

“How many spores did you find?” Batman asked him.

“Two. The others I found were already empty. I take it you got the other four?”

“Yes,” His sister nodded. “Now let’s get the hell out of here!”

“I second that,” Dylan nodded, leading the way back to the entrance. They thought they would get out without a problem but their nemesis decided that he had one more chance for an attack.

“My caves will be your tomb!” Croc roared, running down the tunnel at them. Batman waited, pulling out his detonator and then blew up the path under Croc’s feet, sending him sprawling through the floor. Taylor didn’t wait to see what happened next and turned to help Dylan lift the gate behind them and making an escape as Croc roared out – “I will find you!”

Taylor leaned against the wall, breathing hard as she tried to calm her heart. Batman and Dylan next to her, both breathing hard too. “All right, Bat-boy,” She turned her head to look at him. “This is…the last time…I EVER…go on a…date with you!”

Her brother laughed as their companion just stared at her. “Don’t ruin the mood now, Taylor.”

“Piss off,” she told him, taking a grin at the small smile Batman was fighting to hide.

“So, where to next?” Dylan asked, pushing himself off of the wall.

“The Batcave.” Batman replied.

“All right!” Taylor grinned. “That means I get to look through more of your stuff, right?”

“No.”

“Aww.”

“Hey, what do you mean by Batcave?” Dylan asked them. “We can’t leave the Island yet. Not like this.”

“We’re not,” Taylor grinned.

“What?”

“You’ll see Dylan. Just wait.” The ex-marine glanced between the two of them before crossing his arms, grumbling under his breath.

Apparently there were multiple paths to the Batcave in this place because Batman led them there from the sewers. It was really, really close. Taylor was surprised that Croc hadn’t found it but then again he wouldn’t have been able to get in due to the scanning that took place to open the door. Taylor watched as the look of awe and shock passed over her brother’s face at the sight of the Batcave. 

“Pretty cool, huh?”

“Cool?” He repeated. “This is awesome!” He was like a kid in a candy store and he took off, taking in everything at once, leaving Taylor to follow Batman to his computer again to try help with the cure. There wasn’t really much that she could do, though.

 _“How close are you to making the cure?”_ Oracle’s voice joined them.

“Close,” Batman answered her. “It’s been more difficult than I expected. The process is slow, difficult, and doesn’t produce much antidote.”

_“And the good news?”_

“The chemical will definitely stop Ivy. It may also reverse the Titan transformation. I need to run some more tests to be sure. I’ve set the computer to create more, but I need to get out of here and find Ivy.”

 _“Thank god,”_ Oracle sighed. _“Her plants have reached the Gotham River.”_

“All ready?” Taylor cocked her head to the side. “Well, that’s not good.

Rocks falling from above grabbed their attention and they found Ivy’ plants shoving through the rocks above them, crashing through the computers and everything else in the Batcave. Batman grabbed Taylor and pulled her back with him as Dylan’s shout of surprise came from the other side of the cave.

Oracle cried out for them as Taylor pulled herself back up to the edge of the platform, turning to find Dylan close by on another. He seemed to have been hit by one of the rocks; blood was seeping down from the top of his head.

“Dylan, you all right!” She ran to him, checking his head.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just a scratch.” He waved her away. “You hurt?”

“No, Batman grabbed me and pulled me out of the way.” She told him.

“Good.” He watched as the Dark Knight pulled together a new type of Batclaw as he pushed himself up to his feet. “So, what now, B-man? Did you get the antidote?”

“Yes, but not a lot of it.” The Dark Knight answered him, moving across the platform. “Now we need to go and find Ivy. With her, we might be able to get some more of the antidote.”

“Yeah, but the exit has been blocked. How the hell are we going to get out?” the ex-marine asked.

Batman turned away from him. “We climb.”

Don’t ask how they got through it. Taylor had no way to explain how Batman was able to glide down such a far distance while he held her and Dylan was holding onto his boots. It was impossible but it seemed to work so none of them decided to say a word about it. The Line Launcher and the Batclaw took care of everything else and they soon found themselves back in the Old Sewer again. They all took silent notice of Scarecrow not being in the sewer any longer but neither of them felt like this was the time to worry about that. They were walking into the Main Sewer junction when Batman took notice of the strange, green water.

“Oracle, we’ve got another problem.” Batman began.

 _“What now?”_ The woman growled. _“Two-Face? Riddler? Some kind of giant Joker robot?”_

“Unfortunately, nothing that simple. We’re at the Main Sewer Junction and it appears to be polluted with Titan. Why? What’s he doing now?”

_“I’ll look into it.”_

“Maybe he’s trying to poison everyone in the city,” Dylan offered up. “Or everyone here in the Asylum.”

“We can’t let him do that!” Taylor gasped.

“We’re not.” Batman agreed with a firm face. “We’ll stop him.”


	16. Fight the Ivy

Dylan had been right. Joker was going to try and poison the entire city. They traveled through the Sewer and shut off the Titan system, halting the pollution and saving Gotham. The further they went, the closer and closer Taylor knew they came to finishing all of this. It felt like just an hour ago when she jumped through the window to help Batman fight off Joker’s goons and she found herself wishing that she had more time going through this with Batman. That and she, sadly, found herself wishing that Dylan hadn’t been found yet. She was glad that they had found him, but…

Shaking her head, Taylor erased that thought from her mind instantly. This was not the time to be thinking about that. She needed to get her mind set on these final battles and get ready to kick some more asses before she got that damn vacation that she needed. She was sure that Gordon wouldn’t mind giving her days off after all this shit.

Joker’s voice followed them through the area like it normally did but again they just ignored him, outside of Dylan’s rude comments back at him that made the Joker laugh. Dylan seemed to lighten the dark air a bit but not by much. 

In the Pressure Control room, Joker was waiting on them with a few more of his pets, a Titan included, but they were taken care of like last time. Easily. They let the Titan beat the hell out of the other goons so they weren’t really a problem.

“So, I have a question here,” Taylor began as they made their way back inside of the Botanical Gardens. Ivy and Joker were arguing over the air with the other, threatening to kill each other as the trio moved through the island. With every plant they destroyed, Ivy just got worse and worse. “How in the hell are we going to attack her? Set her plants on fire or something like that?”

Dylan was the one that answered. “I have an idea. Follow me.” The man led them to a door behind the wild plants. “Ivy won’t attack me. Stay here until I lure her out and it’ll be like a surprise attack.”

Taylor stared at the door Dylan was holding open for them. “You want the two of us to hide in a closet?”

“Look, I know how it sounds-”

“Yeah, stupid.”

“Just let me try. If it doesn’t work, you and B-man can come do what you want.”

Batman stared at the other man for a moment, understanding what he was saying. He wanted to try and talk Ivy out of this before they fought her and Batman’s presence there would keep that from happening. “Be careful.”

“What?” Taylor looked between the two men. Dylan gave the Dark Knight a nod and took off through the doorway. “You’re seriously going to let him go?” She asked

“He’s a grown man; he can make his own decisions.” 

Those words made Taylor scowl. That’s exactly what her father had told her when Dylan announced that she was heading to join the Marines. Crossing her arms, she turned from the man in tights and stared out the window towards Gotham. 

“You know,” Batman began again. “You can still leave if you want to. I won’t hold it against you if you’re exhausted.”

“You wouldn’t,” she replied after a few moments. “But I would. I am one of the top Detectives of Gotham City. What kind of cop would I be if I ran and let the Dark Knight fight by himself? Hell, you’re not even a cop!”

“So you don’t think I’m one of your partners anymore?”

“No, none of the men from my office I know could handle all of this, with or with help.”

“But you can.” He told her.

“Yeah, well, barely. I’m not gonna be able to move out of my bed for a week after all this is over.” She sighed, hanging her head. “God, it feels like we’ve been in here a lot longer than a couple of hours.”

“It’s almost been 10,” Batman told her. “The sun will be rising soon.”

“Almost six, huh?” Taylor shook her head. “Thank God. Gordon should be here soon then with reinforcements.”

Batman nodded in silence as she hung her head. Her stomach growled. He couldn’t help but give a small laugh that she returned with a ‘shut up’. 

There was a cry from the next room that made Taylor’s blood run cold. She went to hurry through but Batman held a hand out, cautioning her before he slid into the next room first. She followed and then raised a brow as she took in the sight before them. Ivy was sitting there, watching them as Dylan was hanging in front of her. She had one of her vines wrapped around his feet and he hung upside down, arms crossed as he glared off somewhere, clearly pissed that he was in this situation.

“I told you to go to your cell.” Batman told the redheaded woman.

“I was a fool,” Ivy turned from the ex-marine. “I thought the plants were in pain. Now I realize they were evolving, growing stronger!” As she spoke, more vines burst out of the ground. Dylan was moved out of the way, still hanging in the air, as Ivy was lifted into the air herself as a huge plant, much like the smaller pods littered across the island, opened up behind her. “And now we’ll grow together!” The Plant seemed to eat her, pulling her into a cocoon-like place inside of its mouth. “Give in to a more powerful force, Batman!”

“Son of a-” Taylor bit his lip. “How in the hell are we going to beat this thing?”

“Leave Ivy to me,” Batman told her. “Go save your brother so he doesn’t get hurt.”

“You can’t take her on by yourself, Batman!” Taylor replied. 

“Then you might want to hurry and grab your brother so you can help.” He told her.

She blinked before giving a nod and a smile. “Now that I can do.”

Dylan was hanging in the air by about twenty, maybe thirty feet. Taylor slid up to him from some other vines, getting ready to be thrown off but it seemed that Ivy was more intent on Batman than she was on the other woman climbing on her plants. 

“How in the hell did you make it in the Marines?” She asked her brother when she finally reached him.

“Just shut up and get me down from here, would ya?” Dylan’s arms were still crossed. Taylor tried to pull the vine away but the plant was too strong. In the end, Taylor grabbed out her gun and shot it. Dylan gave a cry when he was dropped and Taylor barely missed the whip from the vine when she dropped down to follow him. “Don’t freakin’ shoot her! She’ll kill us!”

An explosion went off, followed by a monstrous cry, and they both turned to find that Batman had loaded up some of his explosion gel on the large plant head. Taylor grinned. “I think she’s more pissed at Bats.”

Dylan seemed to agree.

More goons decided to join into the fight so Dylan and Taylor decided to let Batman handle what was left of Ivy as they worked together to keep the rest of the enemy off of the Dark Knight’s back. The man in tights seemed to be pleased with that and in the end, after all the Batarangs that he tossed at plant-woman, he loaded Ivy up with more explosion gel.

This time, the explosion seemed to do the trick and the plant went crazy as Ivy’s cries flew out while the plant hit the windows above them. They all jumped back as the plant smashed down to the ground before falling back into the hole it had made in the ground, taking Ivy down with it. Before any of them could speak, the building began to crash around them and Batman moved quickly, using his Batclaw to get out. The twins followed his direction and used the claw that Taylor had. They followed after Batman’s cape with the Line Launcher.

“Ivy will be fine.” Batman told Dylan.

The ex-marine nodded his head. “I know. You try your hardest not to kill any of them. She’s just knocked out. She’s gonna be pissed at me the next time she sees me though,” He chuckled to himself. 

Taylor shook her head with a small smile as she stretched her back again. A strange sound caught her attention and she turned to find that fireworks had begun to go off in the air behind one of the main buildings. Joker’s voice was reaching out to them now, too.

_“Batman! I know it’s been a long, hard night, but good news. The party is about to start! We’ve got something for everyone! Music, dancing, chemicals that create monsters. You don’t want to miss it. So get your ass over to the Cell Block, or you’ll miss your final surprise!”_

“Wonder what he has in store for us.” Dylan tapped his chin.

Taylor took the first step. “Let’s go find out.”

They weren’t attacked as they made their way across the Island this time, and they had men holding signs and lined up, waiting for them just outside the Cell Blocks. 

“Batman and friends,” The man red off of the list. “Oh, it looks like you’re the guest of honor! Give him a big welcome, guys!” 

The goons started to applaud. Dylan squeezed the bridge of his nose as Taylor tried not to roll her eyes. As they moved through the hall, the goons applauded even more as they moved through to the Visitor Center. A body dressed up like Joker was waiting for them, a TV stuck on his head as Joker’s face popped up for them. 

“Are you excited, Bats? I mean, we’ve been building up to this point all night. Don’t tell me you’ve not been looking forward to it. I know I have. We even had to change a few things for your two friends! Surprise!” The TV was lifted from the shoulders and they found that Joker was actually the one sitting there. He stood with that smile on his face. “Everyone always said that I should be on television. You don’t want to miss this. Really, it’ll be a blast.” He set the TV back down and tapped it before backing away as he counted down from ten.

Dylan dove out of the way as Batman tossed his arms around Taylor, covering her with himself as the TV exploded.

“Dammit!” Taylor hissed. “Stupid clown!” She pushed herself up as Batman shook his head. “You ok?”

“Yeah,” Batman glanced at Dylan to find him standing up himself, a frown on his face. “You two,” He began. “When Joker is taken care of, everything’ll turn back to normal. If you’re too exhausted, you can pull out now. I can handle Joker on my own.”

“Yeah, you can, but do you think that Joker’s gonna be by himself?” Dylan replied. “He’s been planning this all night, Batman. You heard him. He wasn’t expecting you to have companions. If we were to leave you on your own now, you’d be in some serious trouble. You can deal with the two of us for a little bit longer, can’t you?” Not waiting for an answer, Dylan walked through the new hole in the wall, following after the Joker.  
Taylor shook her head and stilled her shaking. This was it. This was the final fight. Joker was about to lose and all that he had been trying to do was to be revealed.

“Are you all right?” Batman’s hand was warm on her shoulder. 

“As good as I can be, but the moment this is over and I am back in my bed I’ll be completely fine again.” He gave a soft chuckle. She turned to face him. “Before this is over, I would just like to say thank you, Batman. Thank you for putting up with me and for helping me find my brother. If you weren’t here, then I most likely would be dead by now. I know that I can be stubborn and I am happy that it wasn’t…”

“There’s no need to thank me, Taylor,” The man told her. “It would have been much harder without you then it was with you. I appreciate your help.”

She smiled. “Good, I’m glad. Now, let’s go-” She turned to follow after her brother before stopping herself again and turning back to face the Dark Knight. “Okay, don’t get mad at me, but if I die in there, I’m going to do this beforehand.”

Batman raised a brow. “Do wh-” 

He was cut off by Taylor grabbing the front of his cape and pulling his head down to crash her lips against his. She didn’t know why she did it. It was more of a spur of the moment thing, but she wasn’t going to regret it. Like she said, if she died in there at least she did that first. How many women can say that they got to kiss the Dark Knight, huh?

Before Batman could say anything, Taylor turned from him and hurried after her brother, ready to face the end of Joker’s cruel game.


	17. Joker's Party

The room was empty, except for the large pile of junk in the center of it. Joker sat there, a mini puppet in his lap as two Titans stood beside him.

“Why didn’t you stop Batman?” Joker demanded, playing with the puppet. One of the goons ran forward to attack but Taylor knocked him in the face. 

_“Me? It was your plan, you goofy clown!”_ Another man attacked but Dylan took care of him this time. 

“Ahh, I’m sending you back to the Ventriloquist where you belong!” Joker sighed. 

A third man jumped forward but Batman whacked him in the face, not even turning to look at him as they paused before Joker. The puppet was tossed at their feet and one of the Titans tried to reach for them but they were held back by a collar and a chain. He backed away angrily. 

“You had to spoil everything, didn’t you?” Taylor turned back to Joker as he spoke. “Beating up Bane, leaving Scarecrow behind to be eaten by Croc, slapping around Harley – my hobby, by the way, but let me tell you that you did one hell of a job-” He gave Taylor a wink. She couldn’t help but flush for some reason. “And ruining all my lovely Venom plants.”

“It’s over, Joker.” Batman told him.

“Over?” Joker stood up, stomping a foot. “Why, my dear, delusional Dark Knight, it hasn’t even begun!” He pulled the lever by his feet, releasing the Titans.

“Dude, we’ve been fighting these bastards all night!” Dylan growled. “What makes you think that they’ll beat us now?”

“He’s trying to wear us out, I think,” Taylor told her brother. The two men grabbed the Titans, leaving her with the goon-squad. 

“You know, I am impressed,” Joker’s laugh caught her attention. She glanced up to find his eyes following her as she rammed her fists into his henchmen. “I have not met a woman that can keep up with the Bat like this. Cat Woman is just a thief who slips away, Harley loses quite too often, and Poison Ivy uses her plants but you, you have nothing but your own wits and body. And what a body at that!” He whistled. She flushed again, despite the predicament she was in. “Tell me, what would I have to do to get you to join my side?”

“Not be a criminal, maybe?” Taylor threw at him, kicking another of the goons in the face. “I can handle you being crazy but killing people just don’t work for me.”

Joker gave another of his hooting laughs again. “Well, that’s just too bad now, isn’t it?”

The fight ended up the same moments later, the trio in victory.

“Nicely done!” Joker applauded. “You deserve a prize! Your old pal, Commissioner Gordon.” He pulled another latch and Gordon fell down on a rope.

“Boss!” Taylor cried.

“Say, he looks all run-down. Let’s pep him up!” Joker pulled out a gun and fired it. It was his Titan serum. Batman flew in the way though, taking the shot himself.

“Batman!” All of them (except Joker) cried. The Dark Knight ripped the needle out of him and tossed it aside.

“Ooh, here we go!” Joker wore a huge smile as he ran forward for a better look. “We’re going to have some fun now, kiddies!” Batman glared up at him and Joker’s smile fell. “You’re trying to resist the change! That’s not fair.” He kicked Batman in the face; hard. “Come on. Give in!” Taylor winced as Batman returned to blow with a fist to the crazed clown’s face. Joker stumbled backwards, leaving Batman to moan on the floor as he fought the change. “So, you wanna play hardball, Bats? Do ya? Your call!” He pulled a feather out and moved forward again, holding it under Batman’s nose. “Tickle, tickle,” Batman knocked him away again. Taylor glanced to the side and found Dylan over on Joker’s chair, trying to find a way to release Gordon. She stayed there, waiting for something she could do. “Ow! You’re ruining my big night! Months of planning down the crapper!” Taylor watched with a worried face as Batman’s arm began to grow. “I just wanted to bring down your grim façade and for once let you see the world as I see it, giggling in a corner and bleeding. But you’ve denied me even that.” He held the gun up to his chin. “I have nothing to live for.”

“No!” Taylor moved forward quickly, jumping on Joker and knocking the gun from his face. She pinned the crazed man on the floor beneath her. “What are you, stupid?!” She demanded. “You’ve lost, Joker! Doing this to yourself isn’t going to change anything! Just stop before you hurt yourself!”

“Aww, worried about me?” He laughed. “I’m touched.” 

Taylor froze. She had seen psychos before but Joker took the cake. How…how had this man gotten this bad? What had turned him into this crazed lunatic? “What…what happened to you?”

“What?” His smile disappeared as he stared up at her. 

"Something had to have happened to you, to turn you into what you are today. What was it? Tell me. Maybe we can fix it.”

Joker was still, just staring at her for a moment. She watched as he opened his mouth to speak several times but nothing came out. He finally steeled himself and pushed her off of him. “What could have happened to me? I’m perfectly fine!” His face was all smiles again but his voice was not. Taylor could tell that she hit a nerve. But what? What had happened to him? “Now, shall we continue?”

“No!” She shouted, reaching for him again but she didn’t make it in time. Joker injected himself with his serum. “Fuck!” She growled, crawling backwards. Joker’s body began to transform. The sickening sound of the skin ripping and his bones turning into spikes in his back sent a shudder down Taylor’s back as she backed up until the wall hit her. 

_~This is bad. Very, very bad~_

Joker was now one of the Titan monsters. He gave out one of his laughs before grabbing the Dark Knight and jumping through the ceiling.

“Batman!” She cried out. Dylan and Gordon both called for her but she ignored them, climbing up after the Joker-Titan.

“Care to join us?” Joker laughed at her. The helicopter above them caught their attention and Joker smiled. “Showtime, Batman!” He tossed Batman into the pit beneath him. Taylor dove after him. “Let’s give the rubes something to talk about! Two freaks in a fight to the death! The prize, control over Gotham and the girl!”

“What the fuck do I have to do with this!?” Taylor cried. She was trying to pick Batman up but Joker’s foot caught both of them. She flew off, hitting her back hard against the wall. She was stuck for a moment, ducks flying around her head.

“And for one night only, please welcome our special guest referee.” He turned to Gordon in a chair as he was shocked. Dylan could be seen just over Joker’s shoulder, climbing out of the pit himself, clearly forgotten for the moment as Joker grabbed the Dark Knight again and picked him up. “So…come on! Change! Get crazy! It’s the only way to beat me!” He pulled the masked man in closer. “You know you want to.”

“Never.” Batman grunted out. He pulled out the antidote and shot himself with it.

Joker’s eyes widened. “You wasted the antidote on yourself?” He tossed the man away into the opposite wall. “Now that’s funny!” He ran forward to attack but Batman moved out of the way as Taylor picked herself up from behind Joker. “Hysterical! But you still spoiled my fun! And for that, I’ll paint Arkham with your blood. Let’s get ready to Tango!”

Joker was stronger than all the other Titans that they had dealt with before or maybe their exhaustion was truly taking its toll on them now. Either way, Taylor was worried as she tried not to get herself hurt. It seemed that Joker was interested in Batman; he just tossed her off of him when he got tired of her hitting him. Taylor sighed and ran a frustrated hand over her face. 

_~What the hell can I do?~_

Joker’s yell seemed to be her answer. He jumped backwards from the pit to land on the ledge behind them, calling his goon-squad forward. Feeling relieved, Taylor jumped back up, quickly taking care of the enemy as Joker tossed stuff down at them. When the goons were finished with, Batman shot Joker with his Batclaw, trying to drag him down to fight some more. Taylor mimicked him with her own claw and together they were able to yank Joker down. It was pretty much a repeat of what happened before, until a gunshot went off, nailing Joker in the arm.

“Take that, you son of a bitch!” Dylan’s voice cried out. 

Joker turned with a growl, the wound in his arm still bleeding. “How did I forget about you?” The ex-marine was standing up on the water tower behind all of them, aiming for him again. Joker went to go attack him but Batman caught his attention again. Doing her best not to get in the way, Taylor decided to take this moment to hurry over to her Boss and get him out of harm’s way.

“Taylor,” The elder man gave a sigh of relief as he was freed from the chair he was tied to. “Thank you.”

“Are you all right, Gordon? How did he get you again?”

The man nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. The men on the ship were some of Joker’s men.”

“Those bastards are all over the place!” Taylor hissed. “Get out of here, Gordon. Leave Joker to us.”

“But-”

Whatever Gordon tried to say was lost as Taylor jumped off of the little tower. She landed on Joker’s back and she did a repeat of what she had done to Bane hours before. She grabbed onto the closest thing, this time it was hair and not tubes, and yanked as hand as she could. Joker wasn’t expecting that and he began to stumble, giving Batman an opening to land a few good hits. Dylan took the chance and gave out a few more shots, landing all over the Titan’s body. 

Joker gave a roar and reached behind his back. His arms were longer than Bane’s so he was able to grab Taylor and ripped her from his back. He glared at her before smashing her into the floor at his feet. She didn’t keep in mind what happened then. Her left arm throbbed. Her back felt like it had been smashed into thousands of pieces. She could taste the blood in her mouth. For a moment, she feared that her back was broken like her father’s had been, but she could still move; it just hurt. 

Hurt to where she didn’t want to move but she had to. Now, of all that she had gone through tonight, was not the time for her to just lay there! She had to move. She had to help!

With a roar, Taylor was on her feet again, running forward for another attack but she wasn’t needed. Batman had hooked Joker with his Batclaw again and was yanking him down to the ground. His weight sent him through the floor and onto the power outages. Taylor winced as Joker was electrocuted. That would have hurt anyone.

“I can take it.” Joker coughed as he pulled himself up from the hole. “I can take anything you throw at me, Bats. You can’t beat me. I’m actually going to win. Ready for the next round?”

“Always.” Batman answered him.

“What?” Joker cried.

“I’ll never let you win!” Batman ran forward. “Never!” The Dark Knight must have sprayed some explosion gel onto his hand and it went off as his fist hit Joker in the face. Both of them flew back from the other. Batman stood up but Joker stayed down.

...

Taylor listened as Gordon talked to his daughter. “GCPD finally has control of the Asylum. Doctors are treating the injured, but it looks like it will take some time. All super criminals are back in custody. Quite a mess in there. And the Venom-enhanced inmates are returning to normal. Though for some, the process can be quite painful.”

 _~You’re telling me.~_ Taylor shook her head. She felt a little sorry for Joker. She wouldn’t wish that painful result on anyone.

She was sitting on the hood of her own car, Dylan having pulled it up beside Gordon’s not too long ago. She had been checked out by the medic. She was just bruised and sore, nothing really too bad outside of a cracked arm in a sling that would heel in no time. Dylan was going through his checkout right now as Gordon was fine even after the shock Joker had put him under. 

“Shame about your car.” Gordon made Taylor look up to see that Batman had joined them again, still holding his arm. He wasn’t about to let the Medics check him though, even though they had tried. “Can I give you a ride?”

“Thanks, Jim, but I have one on the way.” Batman replied.

“Too bad.” Taylor shrugged. “And to think I was gonna offer you a ride myself. Maybe next time.” They gave each other a grin.

“Get some rest,” Gordon told them. “Both of you. You deserve it. And don’t worry about coming into work tomorrow, Taylor. It’s another day off.”

“Thank God. I’m not moving from my bed once tomorrow.” She sighed in relief. The radio then caught their attention. Two-Face had just robbed a bank.

“Stay safe, Jim.” Batman told the elder man.

Taylor turned to the Dark Knight, recognizing the tone in his voice. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Can’t help it,” He grinned at her.

“You’re crazy,” She laughed at him, shaking her head. He grabbed his Batclaw.

“I know.” 

She watched as the Batwing flew over them again and he shot his gadget, catching ahold of his jet and flying off towards the city. She gave a sigh before giving another laugh. 

“See you around, Batman.”

Dylan walked up beside his sister, a small smile on his face. He slid an arm around her shoulder. “Hey, sis, let’s go home. We’ve still got our birthday cake to eat, right?”

Taylor smiled. “Yeah, we do, don’t we?” She slid into the passenger seat as her brother moved to the other side. “Dylan, can I ask you a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Don’t spring a surprise like this on me for our birthday ever again, got it?”

The ex-marine tossed his head back with a laugh as they tore down the street back to Gotham City, their radio blaring.

_I've been fading away_   
_I’ve been waiting on the call to reach my veins_   
_Ready or not_   
_No attention to waste_   
_Every sorrow of the soul will read my name_   
_When I cease to exist_


	18. Epilogue

It was a month after the events of Arkham Asylum. Taylor had returned to work but Gordon had given her desk work to cool her off. Everyone gave her cheers for what had happened on the Island; she even got jokes about Batman but she didn’t like it too much. She wanted to be back in the field but her arm had barely just healed completely.

She didn’t admit it, but she had nightmares about the Asylum. From the shit Joker did to the scene of Scarecrow being ripped apart by Killer Croc, and everything else, even, it haunted her when she tried to sleep.

Leaning back in her chair, Taylor ran her fingers over her eyes. This last month had felt like it had been a year. Time was going so slowly. Dylan was back in the Asylum, trying to pull everything under control again so she didn’t get to see him too much at the moment. Everything was settling back into order now…

But why did Taylor feel so…depressed?

That was an easy question to answer, she just didn’t want to admit it.

She wanted to see Batman again. She wanted to feel those arms around her again. To feel the protection that the man held, that he gave to her. She wanted it. She thought that she would be able to get over him but even after a month he hadn’t left her head. This was going to be harder than she thought.

Especially when she still had that utility belt that he had given her to remind her. That and he was pretty much all over Gotham every night and she heard about him daily at work. 

_~Stupid tight spandex wearing, muscular jerk with a flappy cape and pointed ears bat!~_ She hissed to herself, knocking her head against the desk she sat at. _~If I ever see him again, I’ll-~_

“Taylor,” Gordon’s voice made the woman look up from her desk. “You have a visitor out front.”

The detective raised a brow. “For me?”

“Yeah.” Gordon looked at the clock. “You can go ahead and go home, too. I’ll see you in the morning. Be ready. You’ll be going out with me.”

A grin spread across the woman’s face. _~About damn time!~_

Taylor was so happy with that, that she almost forgot that she had a visitor waiting on her. She would have too, if he hadn’t called out her name.

“Detective Carmicheal.” She turned at her name before her brows rose in shock. Short, smoothed back black hair. Blue eyes. Dressed in a suit. 

“Brune Wayne.” She smiled.

Bruce laughed. He would have corrected her on his name but he knew that was her teasing him. “It’s good to see you again, too.” He told her, stepping closer. “When I heard that you were caught in the events of Arkham Asylum last month, I was worried.”

“Worried?” She sounded surprised. “About me?”

“Of course,” He smiled. “That must have been a wonderful birthday present.”

“Ha, you’re telling me,” She scoffed, crossing her arms.

“I am pleased to see that you are okay, though,” Bruce told her. “Very pleased.”

“Well, I appreciate it, I really do.” She smiled at him. “But this isn’t all that you’ve come for, is it? What else do you need?”

“Actually,” Bruce tucked his hands into his pockets. “I came by to see, if perhaps, you would like to join me for dinner this evening. Alfred is preparing a wonderful dish for us as we speak.”

Her heart skipped a beat. Was this actually happening? Why was this happening? Was this repayment for dealing with all the shit in the Asylum? She had made a comment about wishing she had agreed to his offers before all of the insanity happened, but to have him come seek her out personally…

Had that place driven her insane? Was she going to wake up in one of the cells any moment now?

“As we speak, huh?” Taylor raised a brow. “So, you’re already expecting me to say yes?”

“Well, hoping is more of the word.” He answered with a smile.

Taylor stared at him for a moment. There was something…familiar about this man. Maybe it was from the party she had attended. 

She had wondered if Mr. Wayne had wanted that dinner still. And here was her answer.

She cleared her throat, trying to sound professional.

“Well, Mr. Wayne, I do hope you know that I’m not going to be like one of your other lady friends. I’m not going to have one dinner with you before slipping into your bed.”

Bruce wore a large smile on his face as he held open the door for her. “Miss Carmicheal, I wouldn’t wish to change you in any way."


End file.
